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CHEDDAR 



CHEESE MAKING 



BY 



JOHN W. DECKER, B. Agr. 

Instructor in Dairying, University of Wisconsin 



PRICE $1.00 



ILLUSTRATED 




MADISON, WIS. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR f^CTVL 
1893 



9?y 



Copyrighted, 1893, 
By John W. Decker. 












Typography by Tracy, Gibbs & Co., Madison, Wis. 



PREFACE 



In the past five years great advances have been 
made in cheese-making, and for the old rule of thumb 
definite scientific reasons have been substituted. 

During the brief history of the Wisconsin Dairy 
School, the theoretical part of the instruction in 
cheese-making has been given by a series of lectures 
and quizzes along with the practical work. 

All books treating on cheese-making are either out 
of date because of the rapid advance in knowledge 
on the subject, or are unfitted for use as text books in 
a school. 

The instructor has learned from experience that in 
order to have students properly grasp the subject be- 
fore them, it must not only be presented by lectures 
and quizzes, but the student must have it before him 
in some tangible form like a text book. In lectures, 
too much is given for students to fix in their minds at 
first hearing, and therefore a text book will greatly 
increase the efficiency of the work done in the school. 

There are also other cheese-makers, who are not 
students in dairy schools, but who are seeking for 
-more light in their business, and it is hoped that they 
may here find information that will be helpful to them. 

How well the book will meet the needs for which it 
was written time alone will demonstrate. Only a small 
edition of the book has been printed, as it has been 



IV PREFACE. 

hurriedly written under pressure of other work; it is 
hoped, however, that it will meet the primary ob- 
ject for which it was written, that of serving as an 
aid in cheese-making rather than as a complete treat- 
ise on the subject. 

Part I deals with the fermentations of milk and the 
process of making. 

Part II deals with the construction and operation 
of factories. 

Part III consists of questions which are answered 
in parts I and II. The page on which the answer to 
the question may be found is indicated at the end of 
the question. Important points are indicated by par- 
agraph headings and usually the answer to the ques- 
tion can be immediately found by glancing at these. 

The writer believes that the questions in Part III 
will not only be helpful to students of dairy schools in 
mastering the subject, but that they will also be of aid 
to all students of cheese-making. 

A careful study of the questions is urged, however 
simple they may seem, as an accurate knowledge of 
the details and the reasons why, of the various steps 
in the process is absolutely necessary in order to 
master the profession. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Preface iii 

PART L 

Chap. I. Milk i 

Chap. II. The Fermentations of Milk 6 

Chap. III. The rennet test 14 

Chap. IV. First steps in cheese-making 22 

Chap. V. Cutting the curd 26 

Chap. VI. Heating the curd 29 

Chap. VII. Drawing the whey; or, Dipping the curd 34 

Chap. VIII. Milling the curd 42 

Chap. IX. Salting the curd . 49 

Chap. X. Pressing the curd 54 

Chap. XI. Curing the cheese 65 

Chap. XII. Shipping the cheese 67 

Chap. XIII. Judging cheese 72 

PART II. 

Chap. I. Construction of factories 76 

Chap. II. Equipment of factories 87 

Chap. III. Hints on operating the factory 95 

Chap. IV. The milk producer's responsibility 99 

PART III. 

Questions on Part I and Part II 102 



CHAPTER I. 

MILK. 

Composition of Milk. Milk is a secretion of mam- 
mals for the nourishment of their young. If we ex- 
amine the milks of different mammals, we will find 
that they are composed of the same substances, but 
that these substances vary in their proportions, as will 
be seen from the following table giving the composi- 
tion of milks from different origins: 

Human. Cow. Mare. Goat. Ewe. Sow 
Albuminoids (protein com- 
pound) 2.5 4.1 1.7 5.0 4.5 6.2 

Fat 3-6 4.0 -8 3.7 4.2 5-8 

Milk Sugar 6.5 4.2 8.8 4.5 5.0 5.3 

Ash (chiefly Phosphates) 5 .7 .4 .6 .7 .9 

Total solids 13. 1 13.0 11. 7 13.8 14.4 18.2 

Water 86.9 87.0 88.3 86.2 85.6 81.8 

As American cheese is made from cows' milk only, 
no consideration will be given any of the other kinds 
of milk. 

That we may have a better idea of milk, let us look 
at the nature of the substances in its composition. 

Albuminoids. The albuminoids or protein com- 
pounds contain about sixteen per cent, of nitrogen, 
and are the muscle forming part of the milk. 

Milk Sugar. The sugar of milk crystallizes in hard 
crystals, which are neither as soluble nor as sweet as 
cane or ordinary sugar. Commercial milk sugar is 
used largely in the manufacture of lactated foods. 

I— C. C. M. 



2 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Ash. The ash is the mineral substance left when 
milk is burned. Chemical analysis shows it to con- 
sist largely of phosphates. The ash is the bone-form- 
ing part of the milk. 

Water. The albuminoids,* milk sugar and ash are 
all in solution in the eighty-seven per cent, of water. 

Fat. The fat of the milk is not in solution, but in 
the form of little globules suspended in the liquid por- 
tion, which form is called an emulsion. 




MIChOSCOPIC MILK AS DRAWN FROM THE COW. 

The globules vary in size from one two-thousandth 
to one ten-thousandth of an inch in diameter. By 
one ten-thousandth of an inch is meant that it would 
take ten thousand of these little globules placed side 
by side to make a row an inch long. 



*The casein, which is an albuminoid, is thought by some authori- 
ties not to be in solution, but in the form of a thin gelatinous mass. 
This point however is disputed, and for all practical purposes we can 
speak of it as in solution. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 3 

Colostrum Milk. The first milk given by a cow 
just after calving is called colostrum milk, and is 
much more viscous than normal milk, sometimes be- 
ing nearly as thick as syrup. The components of the 
milk are not in their normal proportions, the albumin- 
oids sometimes amounting to fifteen per cent, of the 
milk, while the fat may be less than two per cent. 
Under the microscope, cells which have scaled off 
from the inside of the udder can be seen floating 
about, and w r hile these dead particles of tissue are in 
the milk, it is unfit for cheese. After four or five milk- 
ings the milk will appear normal, but it should not be 
used for a week. 




MICROSCOPIC MILK AFTER STANDING A SHORT TIME 

When milk is taken into the calf's stomach, it is di- 
gested by the juices secreted by the same. If we 
take a stomach and soak it in water or brine, two fer- 
ments, rennet and pepsin, the active principles in di- 
gestion, are dissolved; and if we add this solution to 



4 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

milk, the milk will be curdled. The part of the milk 
that is curdled is the casein, which is the larger por- 
tion of the albuminoids. About one-fourth of the 
albuminous substance in the milk is like the white of 
an egg, and is not coagulated by rennet. By heating 
the whey after the casein has been first coagulated, 
this part will be precipitated, and therefore seems to 
be identical with the albumen of an egg y which is also 
coagulated by heat, as is seen in cooking, and is 
called lactalbumen. 

Whey. In the manufacture of cheese the milk is 
curdled by rennet, and the curd cut into small pieces 
from which the liquid portion, or whey, is expelled. 
The whey then is the major part of the water of the 
milk, which carries with it nearly all the soluble por- 
tions, namely: the albumen, milk sugar, ash, and 
also a small portion of the fat, as the very small glob- 
ules break away from the curd in cutting it. 

Curd. The curd, or green cheese, is then the coag- 
ulated casein which holds in its meshes most of the 
fat, some water, and small portions of the albumen, 
milk sugar and ash. The water in green cheese is 
about one-third of its weight. We look upon green 
cheese and curd as identical, for green cheese is sim- 
ply curd pressed together. 

Fat Necessary for Cheese. While the casein may 
be said to be the cheesy part of the milk, still the 
quantity and quality of the cheese produced is greatly 
affected by the quantity of fat present in the milk; in 
fact, the real value of milk for cheese is determined 
by the amount of fat it contains. Without the fat the 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 5 

casein will dry out very rapidly and become very hard. 
The fat not only helps the casein to hold the water 
from excessive evaporation, but it seems to increase 
the capacity of it for absorbing water. 



CHAPTER. II. 

THE FERMENTATIONS OF MILK. 

Cheese-making a Process of Fermentation. The 

process of cheese-making is a process of fermentation 
from beginning to end. It will therefore be necessary 
to consider the different kinds of ferments, and how 
they act in the process. There are two general kinds 
of ferments, namely: organized and unorganized. 

Organized Ferments. The organized ferments are 
so called because they are the result of the growth of 
minute vegetable organisms. There are millions of 
these organisms in the milk, and in their growth they 
decompose the components of the milk, forming vary- 
ing decomposition products. Nearly all the trouble 
we have in cheese-making is due to the action of defi- 
nite living vegetable cells that have the power of man- 
ufacturing certain decomposition products ; on the 
other hand, we could not produce fine cheese without 
the presence of certain forms of bacteria that are able 
to change the milk, producing the fine desired flavors. 

Lactic Ferment. The souring of milk is produced 
by the growth of certain organized "ferments. These 
organisms so affect the milk sugar that it is changed 
into lactic acid. When the lactic fermentation is not 
properly handled and there is too much lactic acid 
formed in the curd, we have a sour cheese; and on 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 7 

the other hand when the curd is put to press before 
the lactic fermentation has run its course, gas is pro- 
duced, which forms large, round, smooth holes, termed 
* 'Swiss holes," so-called because they resemble the 
holes found in Swiss cheese. 

Important Point in Cheese-making. The most 
important point in cheese-making- is to knozv how to 
control the lactic fermentations. 

Pinholey Curds due to Bacteria* But the ordi- 
nary souring of milk, or lactic fermentation as it is 
called, is not the only fermentation due to germs or 
bacteria. Through the action of the lactic ferment 
the milk sugar is decomposed, but in other fermenta- 
tions the casein is attacked, and gas formed that col- 
lects in little holes about the size of the head of a pin> 
and such a curd is therefore known as "pinholey." 

Butyric Ferment. Bacteriologists have separated 
quite a number of peculiar ferments that are produced 
by distinct species of bacteria; for instance, there is 
the butyric fermentation, in which butyric acid is the 
decomposition product formed, and the alcoholic fer- 
mentation in which alcohol and carbonic acid gas are 
formed. 

Bitter Milk — How Caused. There is also some- 
times a Bitter taste to milk which usually goes with 
the butyric fermentation, but bacteriologists have 
shown it to be the result of a distinct fermentation. 

Alkaline Fermentation. Another peculiar fer- 
mentation of milk is the alkaline curdling, in which the 



8 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



milk curdles apparently in the same manner as in or- 
dinary souring, but it shows a distinct alkaline reac- 
tion. "Ropy" and "slimy" milk are also fermenta- 
tions that are brought about by the action of bacteria. 




Yeast Plants JBacil\*» 



Bacteria. It has been said that these fermentations 
are due to minute living organisms. They are, in 
fact, little plants consisting of but a single cell, and 
these little cells live and grow in a similar way as do 
larger plants that we can see without a microscope. 

On the outside is the cell wall which resembles the 
shell surrounding an egg. Inside of the cell wall is 
the protoplasm, or living element of the organism. 
Some of these single cells are spherical in form, and 
are known as cocci (singular, coccus), others are rod- 
like, and are called bacilli (singular, bacillus), meaning 
a rod, and the yeasts or saccharomyces, which grow 
in sugar solutions and are oval in form, are still another 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 9 

class. The protoplasm or living element inside of 
the cell wall is sensitive to light and heat just as in 
the higher orders of plants; in fact, these characteris- 
tics are the characteristics of life, and anaesthetics, 
such as chloroform and ether, will cause a cessation 
of their vital activities, and the fermentation ceases 
entirely because the protoplasm is killed, or is sus- 
pended until the irritating agent is removed. 

Difference between Organized and Unorganized 
Ferments. This is the distinguishing difference be- 
tween organized and unorganized ferments, the latter 
■class not being affected by anaesthetics. For instance, 
rennet will curdle milk, and its action is hastened or 
retarded according to the temperature of the milk, the 
same as organized ferments, but it is not affected by 
these protoplasmic poisons. 

Rennet is a good representative of the unorganized 
ferments or enzymes, as they are called, with which 
we have to deal in cheese-making. 

Enzymes. The enzymes do not seem to be living 
organisms, but are more like a chemical in their action. 
On the other hand, they hardly seem to be purely 
chemical, for a chemical will be used up by entering 
into another combination, but an enzyme may be 
used over and over again. 

Enzymes sometimes produced by Organized Fer- 
ments. While enzymes are distinct from organized 
ferments, they are often produced as a result of the 
growth of certain organisms. In the alkaline curdling 
of milk, mentioned among the organized ferments, 



10 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

there is an enzyme produced as a result of the growth 
of the bacteria, and then the curdling is accomplished 
by the enzyme in a manner similar to, if not quite 
identical with that of rennet. Rennet and pepsin, 
the active part of the rennet extract used in cheese- 
making, are both enzymes. 

Rennet, where found. Rennet which was first is- 
olated by Hammersten, is found in the stomachs of 
calves, lambs, and pigs, and also in birds and fishes, 
and in some plants. 

It will be remembered, by referring to the table 
showing the composition of milk, that there is 0.7 
per cent, ash in cows' milk, which is a comparatively 
small quantity. 

Phosphates required. Part of this ash is in the 
form of phosphates, and though small in quantity, 
rennet will not curdle the milk without their presence. 
It is thought that casein forms a chemical combina- 
tion with the phosphates in a form known as casein 
tricalcium phosphate, which is soluble, but when ren- 
net is added to the milk, it is changed to calcium 
phosphate and an insoluble casein compound which is 
the cheese. 

Effect of Salt on Milk. If common salt or magne- 
sium sulphate is added to the milk in sufficient quan- 
tity, the casein will be precipitated. 

Effect of Heat on Rennet. Rennet will not curdle 
milk at a very low temperature, but as the tempera- 
ture is raised it will begin to work, and work faster 
and faster till at about I30°F. its action is the greatest. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. II 

At I70°F. its action ceases, so that it will not curdle 
milk again. 

Rennet does not Exhaust itself. As has been 
said concerning enzymes, rennet does not seem to 
spend its energy, but will act over and over again. If 
we coagulate a quantity of milk, and apply the whey 
to a like quantity of milk, the milk will be coagu- 
lated; we could do this indefinitely, if it were not for 
getting a larger volume of v/hey than we have of 
milk. 

Effect of acidity on the Action of Rennet. It has 

been said that the rapidity in the action of rennet is 
greatly affected by the temperature of the milk, but 
we will find, if the temperature of the milk is held 
constant, the more lactic acid there is in the milk the 
faster the rennet w r ill act, or if any acid be artificially 
added to the milk in quantities not sufficient to coag- 
ulate it, the action of the rennet will be hastened, and 
on the other hand if alkali be added to the milk, the 
action of the rennet will be retarded. 

Rennet Extracts not alike. Another cause for vary- 
ing rapidity of action is the difference in the strength of 
the rennet extract used. Rennets vary as to the amount 
of ferment contained in them, and it is next to im- 
possible to get two lots of rennet extract exactly 
alike. 

Rennet is sometimes concentrated in the form of 
tablets or rennet powder, but even these vary in 
strength, and they are concentrated to such a degree 
that it is difficult to measure them closely, and on that 
account extract is preferable. 



12 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

What Rennet Extract is. Rennet extract is a so- 
lution of rennet and pepsin in strong brine. A rennet, 
as we buy it on the market, is a calf's stomach, which 
has been cleaned and filled with salt and allowed to 
dry. The best rennets come from Bavaria. 

How Rennet Extract is Made. Rennet extract is 
made in the following manner: 

Prepare a sufficient number of rennets, say five 
hundred, by splitting them open so that the water can 
get into them. Then take an oak barrel and put the 
rennets into it, and fill with water until they are well 
covered. 

Possibly the barrel might be nearly filled with water, 
but we should not have more water than is necessary 
to dissolve the ferment. 

A little salt should be added to the water, say three 
pounds of salt to one hundred pounds of water. The 
rennets should be stirred up and pounded every day, 
to facilitate the solution of the ferment, and at the 
end of a week the liquid should be drawn off and the 
rennets wrung out with a clothes wringer. They 
should be put into water again and soaked for another 
week, and the same operation gone through with. As a 
usual thing, the ferment has not all been extracted from 
the stomachs till they have been soaked for four 
weeks. The liquid that has been obtained by soaking 
the rennets should be filtered through clean straw, 
charcoal, and sand, and then an excess of salt added 
to preserve it. 

The extract should be clear though of a dark color. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 1 3 

The first sign of the decomposition of rennet extract 
is a muddy appearance. 

If extract is ever prepared by the cheese-maker, 
enough to last the whole season should be made in the 
spring when the weather is cool, and then it should be 
kept in a cool place. 

Reliable Brands to be preferred. The surest way 
of getting extract that can be depended on, is to buy 
some reliable brand of extract, such as Hanson's. 

The practice of preparing extract every few days is 
wrong, as the strength of each new lot will not be like 
the last, and if used in about the same quantities the 
cheese will not cure evenly. The use of whey as a 
solvent for the rennet is wrong for reasons that are 
obvious after considering the subject of organized 
ferments. 

A comparison of extracts and their relative value, 
will be taken up after the rennet test has been ex- 
plained. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE RENNET TEST. 

Cause of Uneven Cheese. Cheese makers have had 
trouble in getting their cheese even in quality. If the 
milk came in cold in the morning and the rennet was 
added to it immediately on warming it up to the 
proper temperature, the development of acid was re- 
tarded; and if they put it to press before sufficient 
acid had been formed, they would get a sweet flavored 
cheese full of 'Swiss holes.' If the curd was held in 
the whey long enough for proper development of acid, 
the chances were that it would become whey-soaked, 
and a leaky sour cheese would be formed. Or if the 
milk was over ripe, it would work too fast and the 
cheese would be sour. 

As early as fifty years ago, in England, the cheese 
makers began to learn that if milk was cold, they 
would obtain better results by warming it up to 90°F. 
and allowing it to ripen before adding the rennet; 
but while it improved the quality of the cheese, it did 
not always help them out of the difficulty. 

Rennet Action dependent on Three Things. It has 

been shown that the rapidity with which rennet coagu- 
lates milk is dependent on: — 

i. The strength of the rennet extract. 

2. The temperature of the milk. 

3. The acidity of the milk. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. I 5 

Now if we use the same rennet, at the same temper- 
ture of the milk each time, the variation in the rapid- 
ity with which it coagulates the milk, must be due 
solely to the acidity or ripeness of the milk. 

J. B. Harris discovers the Rennet Test. About 
ten years ago J. B. Harris conceived this idea, and 
used a teacupful of milk from the vat, to which he 
added a teaspoonful of rennet and noted the number of 
seconds required to coagulate the milk. When the milk 
was ripened down to a certain number of seconds, he 
found that could foretell approximately the time that 
it would take for acid to develop. 

Rennet a Powerful Agent. But if one stops a mo- 
ment to figure on it, he will see that rennet is a very 
powerful agent. If one uses four ounces of extract 
to one thousand pounds of milk, it is one part of 
rennet to four thousand of milk, and sometimes the 
proportion will be as wide as one to sixteen thousand. 
It will be easily seen that since the rennet is such a 
powerful agent, it is not likely to be an entirely accu- 
rate test where a teaspoon is used for measuring the 
rennet, for then it would be difficult to measure exactly 
twice alike. Therefore, in place of the teaspoon, a 
minim or dram graduate was substituted, and for the 
tea cup an eight ounce glass graduate such as drug- 
gists use. This was much better than the other crude 
apparatus for making the test. 

Glass Graduates for Measuring. But the minim 
graduate is funnel shaped, and the top being broad in 
proportion to its volume, the chances for error are 



i6 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



still too great in measuring. In actual practice, 
through haste in making the test, two or three drops 
of extract were likely to be left in the narrow bot- 




JOOZL 



GLIgl.ss GUro-du.a.tes 



torn of the minim graduate, and the maker would be 
confused in not getting the results he expected by 
depending on it. 

J. H. Monrad then proposed a new set of apparatus, 
which, though not so simple, leaves less chance for 
error. 

The Monrad Rennet Test. The apparatus for the 
Monrad test, as used at the Wisconsin dairy school, 
consists of a i6oc.c. tin cylinder for measuring the 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



17 



milk, a 5c. c. pipette, a 50c. c. glass flask, and a half pint 
tin basin. By filling the tin cylinder full it always 
gives the right measure of milk quickly. Measuring 
the milk in a glass graduate is difficult, as it is hard 
to get the milk just to the mark, and if the glass is 
covered with white milk it is difficult to see the mark. 




MONRAD RENNET TESj. 

The rennet is first measured with the 5 C - C - pipette- 
A pipette (as will be seen by reference to the illustra- 
tion), is a glass tube with a mark on it indicating the 
volume of 5c. c, and the rennet can very easily be 
measured to the mark, and the tube being narrow 
makes the measurement accurate. The rennet in the 

2 — C. C. M. 



1 8 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

pipette is delivered into the 50c. c. flask, and what 
little rennet adheres to the inside of the pipette is 
rinsed into the flask. This is then filled with water 
to the 50c. c. mark on the neck, and the solution mixed 
by shaking. The milk, the temperature of which 
should be 86° F. , measured in the tin cylinder, is emptied 
into the half pint basin, and 5c. c. of the dilute extract 
is measured into the i6oc.c. of milk, and the number 
of seconds required to curdle it noted. If a few specks 
of charcoal are scattered on the milk and the milk 
started into motion around the dish with a thermome- 
ter, the instant of curdling can be noted by the stop- 
ping of the specks. They will stop so suddenly as to 
seem to start back in the opposite direction. 

Use Thermometer to Stir Milk. By using a ther- 
mometer, the temperature can be constantly watched; 
and if the temperature should fall, it can quickly be 
brought back to 86° F. by setting the basin in a pail 
of warm water for five seconds. 

Ripening the Milk. If the milk is ripened so as to 
coagulate in the same number of seconds each day, 
one can tell very closely the time when the whey can 
be drawn off from the curd. It should be ripened to 
a point where in two hours from the time the rennet 
is added to the milk there will be one ' 'eighth of an inch 
of acid" on the curd, as we shall see later on. 

With the rennet extract we have been using at the 
Wisconsin Dairy School, the milk when ripened to 
thirty seconds works off in about the right time, but 
the extract is very strong, one ounce being sufficient 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 1 9 

to coagulate one thousand pounds of milk in twenty- 
minutes. If however our rennet extract was so weak 
that it would take four ounces of it to coagulate one 
thousand pounds of the same milk in twenty minutes, 
it would be only one fourth as strong as the rennet we 
have been using, and the milk would then have to be 
ripened so as to coagulate in one hundred and twenty 
seconds instead of thirty. 

How to Ripen Milk to the Right Point. Starting 
in with the season's work the cheese-maker has nothing 
to guide him as to the ripeness of the milk, simply 
because he does not know the strength of the rennet 
extract at his disposal. The first day he makes 
cheese, he must make a rennet test of his milk at the 
time he sets it and then observe how the milk acts. 
If the milk is too sweet, he can calculate about how 
much riper it must be to work just right, and in a few 
days he will have the matter entirely under his con- 
trol. Cheese-makers should never neglect to use the 
rennet test, for it enables them to judge definitely the 
condition of their milk. 

When a maker is troubled with tainted milk it is 
often necessary to ripen a little lower than with good 
milk, for the bad flavor, as we have already learned, 
is due to some harmful variety of bacteria which 
choke out the lactic ferments. 

Use of a Starter. In such cases it is well to use a 
starter to make the lactic ferment overcome the other 
ferment. (See p. 22.) 

Comparisons of Rennet Extracts. Sometimes, as 
has been previously shown, it will take three or four 



20 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

ounces of one kind of rennet extract to coagulate one 
thousand pounds of milk at the same temperature and 
time, as it would take one ounce of another extract. 
Perhaps the weaker extract is offered for sale at a 
lower price. By using the rennet test to compare the 
two kinds of extract, one can tell their relative values. 

How to compare Milks. In comparing two lots of 
milk, for that is just what we do with the rennet test, 
we must have all the conditions other than the milk 
the same; that is, we must use the same extract, at 
the same temperature every time, and the test will 
tell us the strength of acidity in the milk. 

Now if we want to compare two kinds of rennet ex- 
tract, we must have all the conditions but the extract 
the same; that is, we must make the tests at the same 
temperature, on the same milk, and at the same 
time, for the milk will be ripening and introducing an 
error if we wait. When these conditions are followed 
the test gives us the comparative strength of two kinds 
of rennet extract, and we can afford to pay for them 
in proportion to their strength with perhaps a prefer- 
ence for the stronger extract, other things being 
equal, for the stronger extract will invariably keep 
better. 

An Example in Cost of Extract. Suppose two 
kinds of extract, A and B, are offered to us and the 
price of A is $i. 50 and B $1.25 per gallon. On mak- 
ing comparative tests of them, we find that A coagu- 
lates the milk in thirty seconds and B in fifty seconds. 
• Which extract is the cheaper? 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 21 

We simply put the problem into an inverse propor- 
tion. 30: 50 \\x : $1.50. 

The product of the means equals the product of the 
extremes. 

5o.r=$45.oo 
x= .90 

From which we find that we can afford to pay 90 
cents for B extract and $1.25 is too much for it. 

Having now seen that all rennet extract is not 
alike, it is evident that when a cheese-maker says he 
uses three ounces or four ounces of rennet extract per 
thousand pounds of milk, he gives no definite informa- 
tion. If he says he uses enough to coagulate his milk 
at 86°F. in twenty minutes, it is at once clear what he 
means. 

How Strength of Rennet should be Expressed. 

The strength of rennet should always be spoken of in 
terms of time and temperature, and not in quantity. 
For instance; if we want to make a fast curing cheese 
we should say: "We use enough rennet to coagulate 
the milk in fifteen to twenty minutes at 86°F."; and 
if we want to make a slow curing cheese we should 
say: "Enough to coagulate in thirty to forty min- 
utes at 86°F." 



CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST STEPS IN CHEESE MAKING. 

Stir Milk to Keep Cream down. While the milk 
is being received it should be stirred in the vat to 
keep the cream down. As soon as the milk has all 
been received and the quantity figured up, the steam 
should be turned on and the milk heated to 86°F. , and 
a rennet test made. If the cheese-maker is suspicious 
that the milk may be over ripe, he should make a ren- 
net test before the milk in the vat is heated up to 
86°F. , by taking his sample for the rennet test in the 
basin in which the test is made and warming it up in 
a pail of warm water. 

If the milk is found to be over ripe, he will have to 
hurry the process to keep ahead of the fermentation. 
On the other hand, if he finds the milk very sweet, 
and that he will have to wait an hour or more for it 
to ripen down, he should use a starter. 

Definition of a Starter. A starter is simply a 
small quantity of milk in which the lactic fermentation 
has been allowed to develope, and there are therefore 
millions upon millions of the desired kinds of bacteria 
in it, and when these are put into the milk in the vat, 
they increase very rapidly and hasten the ripening of 
the milk. 



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CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 23 

What to use for a Starter. The starter should be 
saved from some patron's milk from the morning or 
evening before, and should always be the best flavored 
milk, for the whole vat will be made like it. 

What not to use for a Starter. A starter should 
not be saved from the vat of milk nor the whey, for 
the starter will then be likely to contain all sorts of 
germs, good, bad, and indifferent, and these will all be 
transmitted from one day's milk to the next ; in fact, 
a bad disease might be carried through the milk in 
this way for a whole season. Thick milk maybe used 
for a starter, if one is hard pressed, but it is better 
not to let the starter get quite thick. If the starter 
is thick, it should be strained carefully through a cloth 
strainer, for if clots of thick starter get into the vat of 
milk, they will not be colored and may leave white 
specks in the curd. 

Milk should be ripened to a point where in two 
hours from the time the rennet is added to the milk, 
there will be one-eighth of an inch of acid on the curd. 
What is meant by an eighth of an inch of acid will be 
explained further on. 

Milk must not be too Ripe. Milk should never be 
allowed to ripen to a point where it will work too fast. 
In such cases there will be too great a loss of fat in 
the whey, and a small yield of cheese. 

Setting the Milk. Having gotten our milk into 
the proper condition we are now ready to set it. It 
should be set at 86°F. As sometimes happens, the 



24 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

milk may have accidentally been warmed up to 90 . 
We should rather set the milk at that temperature than 
wait to cool it down, for the milk will be ripening while 
we delay setting it. The only objection to setting 
milk at 90 is that the curd hardens too fast to cut it 
conveniently. If it were not for that fact, I see no 
objection to setting it at 98 . 

For a fast curing cheese we should use enough ren- 
net to curdle the milk in fifteen to twenty minutes ; 
and for a slow curing cheese enough to curdle in thirty 
to forty minutes. 

Rennet should be Diluted. The rennet should be 
diluted, not with milk, (why?) but with a dipperful or 
pailful of water, and then poured into the vat evenly 
from one end to the other. The milk should have 
been thoroughly stirred just previous to adding the 
rennet, and then the rennet should be thoroughly 
mixed with the milk. The stirring should be done 
gently so that the fat will not separate from the milk. 

The milk should be kept in motion for several min- 
utes; the surface should then be stirred gently with 
the bottom of the dipper so that the cream will not 
rise on the surface, and the milk will set, or coagulate, 
and hold it down. The movement of the dipper 
should be kept up for about half the time it takes the 
milk to coagulate, and then a cover should be put over 
the vat to keep the surface of the milk from cooling 
off. 

When the Curd is ready to Cut. The curd is ready 
to cut when it will break clean before the finger. The 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 25 

index finger is thrust into the curd and pushed along 
through it about half an inch below the surface. The 
curd is first split by the thumb, and when the proper 
firmness is reached it will break as the finger is pushed 
along. If the break is clean, that is, does not leave 
milky but clear whey in the break, the curd is ready 
to cut. 



CHAPTER V. 

CUTTING THE CURD. 

Through the work of heat and rennet the curd con- 
tracts and expels the whey. In order that this may 
be more readily done, we cut the curd into small cubes 
and raise the temperature. The pieces of curd must be 
of the same size and shape, so that they may expel the 
whey evenly. 

How to Cut a fast working Curd, When we have 
a fast working or over ripe curd we cut finer and heat 
faster than with a normal working curd. 

The English cheese-makers used to break the curd, 
first with their hands, and then with wires, but the 
curd-knife has entirely superseded that method. 
There are two forms of knives used in the operation. 

Use of Horizontal Curd-Knife. The first is the 
horizontal knife, which has eighteen or twenty blades. 
When it is drawn through the length of the vat, it will 
cut the curd into layers or blankets one half-inch 
thick, by six inches wide, by the length of the vat 
long. Care must be taken not to jam the curd, for if 
it is jammed it will be lost in the whey. The flat 
sides of the blades should not be forced into the curd 
to get the knife into a position to cut it, for they will 
jam the curd in so doing. 

How to Insert the Horizontal Knife. The length 
of the knife is therefore held in a horizontal position, 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



27 



the upper end of the knife near the handle resting 
on the top of the end of the vat. The knife is then 
swung down into the curd, the edges of the blades cut- 
ting into the curd and taking a circular course till the 
knife has assumed a vertical position 
parallel with the end of the vat, the 
lower end of the knife resting on the 
bottom of the vat. In this movement 
we have not jammed the curd, but have 
the knife in aposition to move it through 
the length of the vat and cut the curd 
into the layers. But these layers are 
only six inches wide and we will have 
to cut the whole vat of curd into these 
layers. Then keeping the knife in the 
curd we must turn it without break- 
ing the curd, so that we can run the 
knife to the other end of the vat. 
Using the side of the knife next to 
the uncut curd as a center, we turn the knife around 
through 1 8o° of a circle, and we are ready to carry 
the knife to the other end of the vat. 

How to take the Knife out. When we have cut 
the vat of the curd all up into blankets, we take the 
knife out in the reverse order to which it went in. 

The horizontal knife is now laid aside and the 
operation finished with the perpendicular knife. The 
blades in this knife run in the direction of the long- 
est dimension of the knife. 

We do not, like some cheese-makers, wait here for 
the whey to rise over the curd before finishing the 




28 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



operation, for the pieces of curd will get out of place, 
and the curd being harder will not be so easily cut. 
How to insert the Perpendicular 
Knife. We start cutting in the same 
place as we did with the other knife, in- 
serting it in the curd in the same way, 
for it has cross braces which are really 
horizontal blades, and we must avoid 
jamming the curd with them. We draw 
the knife over the same course that the 
other knife went, and we have the curd 
cut into strips one-half inch square and 
the length of the vat long. 

We then cut cross-wise of the vat, be- 
ing careful not to jam the curd, and we 
then have it cut into half inch cubes. 
If we are making up slow working milk, 
this amount of cutting may be enough, but if it is neces- 
sary to cut finer, it can be done by cutting alternately 
lengthwise and crosswise of the vat. The strokes 
should be much quicker now, as the curd has been 
getting harder and finer and will pass between the 
blades, and a quick stroke is therefore necessary to 
cut it. 

Rapidity of Stroke a Factor, When a cheese-maker 
says he cuts a curd a certain number of times, he does 
not convey the proper idea, for the rapidity of his 
strokes is a great factor; and if he cuts lengthwise of 
the vat six times and crosswise six times, and cuts 
with a slow motion, the curd may not be cut any finer 
than if it had been cut only four times each way 
with a quick stroke. 




CHAPTER VI. 

HEATING THE CURD. 

Keep Curd Moving. As has been said, the curd 
was cut to allow the whey to escape, but if the curd is 
not kept moving, it will settle to the bottom of the 
vat and mat together again. Therefore, as soon as 
the curd has been cut, begin stirring the curd by- 
hand or with a wire basket made for the purpose. 

Do not allow the curd to collect in the corners of 
the vat, and be sure and rub it off from the sides of 
the vat or it will scald on. The whey should look 
clear, and be as free as possible from specks of curd 
floating in it. 

When to begin Heating. Curd being a poor con- 
ductor of heat, one degree in five minutes is fast 
enough to heat normal working milk. If it is heated 
too fast, it will cook the particles on the outside and 
hold the whey inside of them; and the result will be 
a mottled whey-soaked cheese. The curd does not 
expel the whey as fast at 86°F. to 90°F. as it does at 
a little higher temperature, so that the temperature 
should be applied slowly at first. 

Heating an over ripe Curd. If the milk is over 
ripe, however, it expels the whey faster, and the curd 
must be heated faster and higher than normal working 
curd, or there will be the required amount of acid on 
the curd before it is hard enough to remove it from 



30 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



the whey. As a usual thing it is not necessary to cook 
a curd above ninety-eight degrees, but a curd must 
be cooked before drawing the whey, no matter if 
the temperature has to be raised to one hundred 
and ten degrees to do it. (For definition of cooked 
curd see p. 33.) It is necessary to cook a fast working 




-u q- 

Mc.Pherson Curd Rake 



curd in that way, and if the curd is taking acid too rap- 
idly for the heating in the whey to be sufficient to firm 
the curd before the acid is too great, the whey can be 
drawn and the remainder of the firming done in warm 
water, which is run into the vat in place of the whey. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 3 1 

The water dilutes the acid so that it will not have such 
a bad effect, and at the same time the curd is kept 
apart and warm so that the whey in it can be thor- 
oughly expelled. It must not be forgotten, however, 
that an over ripe milk will not yield so well as though 
it were normal. 

"Corky Cheese. 95 If the acid comes too slow, it may 
not be necessary to cook above 96 F. , for if the curd 
were to be held at 98 for too long a time, too much 
whey would be expelled, the same as though a nor- 
mal ripening curd were held at no° for half an hour. 
The curd would be too dry and resemble skim-milk 
curd or sawdust, and the cheese would cure very slowly 
because of the lack of moisture; it would be said to be 
"corky" because it resembles cork in texture. If one 
uses the rennet test carefully, he will know just how 
fast his curd will work and at what temperature to 
cook it. 

Use Correct Thermometers. It is very essential 
to have a correct thermometer. The cheap floating 
thermometers that are usually sold may be five or six 
degrees wrong. The flange thermometers are not so 
handy to use in the vat but are more likely to be cor- 
rect; the glass tube, however, may get loose and slip 
down the scale giving a misleading temperature. The 
best way to get a good thermometer is to pay a good 
fair price, say one or two dollars and buy one that is 
guaranteed to be correct. 

Stirring the Curd. To assist the curd in heating 
evenly and keep it from matting together, it should be 



32 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

stirred from the time it is cut till it is cooked. Some 
Canadian factories have a steam stirring apparatus 
which is very handy, but in most factories it is done 
with a rake. 

Curd Rakes. There are two kinds of curd rakes 
in use, the common wooden hay rake and the Mc- 
Pherson curd-rake. 

The rake is put into the whey as soon as the steam 
is turned on, and the curd is started into a rolling 
motion as though it were boiling. The stirring is 
commenced with the rake, teeth up, at one end of the 
vat, and the rake worked down the length of the vat, 
making the curd roll on the side of the vat opposite 
the operator; then back again, making the curd roll 
on the side toward him. Care should be taken that 
curd does not collect in the corners of the vat; nor 
should it be allowed to roll up into little balls. On 
the other hand, it must not be jammed, or fat will be 
lost in the whey at the expense of the yield of cheese. 

McPherson Curd Rake. The McPherson rake has 
large triangular teeth with the base of the triangle 
forming the end of the tooth. This form of rake 
makes it much easier to give the curd a rolling move- 
ment. Some rakes have only two large teeth, and 
others several, but smaller ones. It is well to have 
two short wooden pins about a half or three-quarters 
of an inch long, in the back of the rake, to prevent its 
jamming the curd on the bottom of the vat. 

How to tell a Proper Cook. One of the most im- 
portant steps in the process is to know when a curd is 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 33 

cooked enough. We should then have one-eighth of 
an inch of acid on the curd, and draw the whey. Here 
it will be seen that our judgment comes into play to 
know how fast to heat a curd, to have it just firm 
enough when the acid comes. The rennet test will 
help us to regulate this, but if the rennet test tells us 
we have a fast working milk, we must cook faster, and 
perhaps higher. When we draw the whey, the curd 
must not be salvy and soft, but when a big double 
handful is pressed together in the hands, and one 
hand removed, it should not remain in a mashed up 
mass, but should fall apart readily. The particles of 
curd should be examined from time to time, to see 
that they are cooking on the inside as well as the out- 
side. 



CHAPTER VII. 

DRAWING THE WHEY-DIPPING THE CURD. 

As has been said, when there is an eighth of an 
inch of acid on the curd, the whey should be drawn off. 

Measuring Acid. Strictly speaking, we cannot 
measure acid by the inch, but the acid seems to act 
on the curd in some way, so that when a piece is 
touched to a hot iron and drawn away, it will leave 
fine, silky threads behind, sticking to the iron. With 
normal working milk, when the curd is first cooked 
up, it will not string at all; but when the acid has 
reached a certain strength, it will begin to string, at 
first barely sticking to the iron, and as the acid in- 
creases, the strings will get longer, till they may be 
several inches in length. 

Threads Due to Acid. That the threads are in no 
way due to the rennet, but are dependent on the acid, 
is shown when milk sours naturally. Such a sour milk 
curd will usually string on a hot iron. If acid is in- 
troduced into the milk in sufficient quantity to curdle 
it, the curd will likely string. In fact, strings of any 
desired length can be produced, by adding the right 
quantity of acid to the milk. However, if too much 
acid is added, it will make a soft, mushy curd, which 
will not string. In the natural curdling of milk, where 
the acid develops in sufficient quantity, we get just 
such a soft, mushy curd, that will not string. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 35 

Result of too much Acid. Not only is this the result 
in cheese making, when too much acid is developed in 
the whey, but there is also a great loss of fat. Experi- 
ence has taught us, that we cannot let the curd take more 
than one-eighth of an inch of acid in the whey with- 
out disastrous results. If we were to wait but a short 
time after we have strings an eighth of an inch long, 
we would find perhaps, that they had increased to an 
inch in length, and our curd would be ruined. It is 
therefore necessary, that one should work nimbly at 
this stage of the process. Not only should the whey 
be drawn off from the curd, but the curd must also be 
thoroughly drained, for whey in the curd will have 
the same effect as though the curd were still in the whey. 
Of course the curd must contain its natural amount of 
moisture, but there must be no pools of free whey in 
or on the curd. 

In the old system of granular cheese-making, the 
curd was stirred over in the bottom of the vat, and 
then a ditch made in the middle for it to drain. In 
this stirring, considerable fat was lost, and the curds 
were not uniform in moisture. The reason of this was, 
that they were stirred drier one day than another. 

Curd Rack. In the system distinctly known as the 
cheddar system, which we follow, the curd is drained on 
racks, which are placed either in the bottom of the vat 
or in a curd sink. The racks are made of hard wood, 
preferably maple. They are constructed of strips round- 
ed on the top, three-fourths of an inch thick, two 
inches wide, screwed onto two other pieces two 
inches high, three-fourths of an inch thick, and four 



36 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



feet long. The slats are three-eighths of an inch apart, 
and extend crosswise of the vat, and are long enough, 
so that not more than a quarter of an inch of space 
is left between each end and the sides of the vat. The 
racks are usually in two four-foot sections. 

Racks, how Used. When the whey is drawn down, 
so that there is but very little whey left in the vat to 
interfere with operations, the vat is tipped so that one 
end is five or six inches lower than the other, and the 
curd is shoved down to the lower end till about five feet 



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CURD RACK. 

of the upper end is cleared. The first section of the 
rack is then put in, and a linen strainer cloth thrown 
over it. This strainer cloth should be about twelve 
feet long, and wide enough (6o inches) to come up over 
the sides of the vat. The surplus cloth is then tucked 
under the lower end of the rack, and the curd piled 
onto it and broken apart to allow the whey to escape. 
It should be stirred over several times, and then left 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 37 

to mat evenly about six inches deep. The space, 
formerly occupied by the curd that has been put onto 
the racks, is now clear, and the second section of the 
rack can be placed in the vat. This is put in close to 
the first section, and the cloth that had been tucked 
out of the way, is drawn over it and covered with 
curd, care being taken, as on the first section, to stir 
out the whey. The sides and ends of the strainer 
cloth are then wrapped over the curd, and the vat cov- 
ered with a heavy cloth cover to keep the curd warm. 
The temperature must be maintained, to keep fermen- 
tation going on. 

Cutting the Curd Into Blocks. After ten or fif- 
teen minutes, the curd will have matted together, and 
can be cut into large blocks, which are turned over. 
The best instrument for cutting the curd is a wooden 
butter spade, which will cut the curd but not the cloth. 
The curd can be cut once or twice down the length of 
the vat, and across the vat, into pieces eight inches 
wide. 

Turning the Curd. Begin at the lower end to turn 
the curd, for it will be more convenient to place the 
hands under the curd on the side toward the upper 
end of the vat, and roll it over. In so doing, it is not 
necessary to lift the piece, thereby breaking it. Con- 
tinue turning the other pieces in the same manner, till 
the last piece at the upper end of the vat is reached, 
then, by a pull of the cloth, it is turned over. Cover 
it up and let it stand to mat still closer. By using 
racks, the whey runs through when the curd is turned 



38 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

over. Watch the curd, and if whey should collect be- 
tween the pieces, turn .them over and let it run off. 
The curd should be turned over from time to time, 
but much oftener at first, to facilitate the expulsion of 
the whey. After a while the curd will begin to get a 
grain to it, and will tear like the meat on a chicken's 
breast. 

Pin-holey Curds. If we have what is called a 
"gassy" or ' 'pin-holey" curd, the gas will begin to 
form in little holes about the size of a pin head. 
Through the flattening of the curd, these holes are 
flattened and the gas escapes. Sometimes these pin 
holes appear before the curd is taken out of the whey, 
and, if they are plentiful enough, the curd will float on 
the surface of the whey, and we have what is called a 
"floater." But this does not occur very often, if we 
draw the whey in time. It used to occur quite often 
with bad milk, when the curd was left in the granular 
form, and more acid was run in the whey. The pin 
holes were not flattened, and consequently appeared 
in the cheese. Such curds are often accompanied by 
a bad flavor. They are probably caused from bad 
ferments, but maybe due to bad flavored food. Clover 
and watercress, when eaten by the cows, have been 
known to give a curd with pin holes. 

Some of the taints are much more persistent than 
others. As a usual thing, a taint can not be gotten 
entirely out of the cheese. 

Washing Curds. A curd can be greatly improved 
by washing it. When put onto the racks, and before 






CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



39 



it has had time to mat, a few pails of water at a tem- 
perature of I05°F. will wash out a great deal of the 
taint. Sometimes taints, due to the feeding of turnips, 
cabbages, and like foods are met with. In such cases, 
potassium nitrate, commonly called salt peter, has 
been used to prevent the flavor showing in the cheese. 
I do not like the idea of using such 
things, as they are injurious to 
health. If foods like turnips are 
fed to cattle, they should be fed in 
small quantities just after milking, 
and the results will not show in the milk. 

Use of a Curd Sink. It is much easier to get the 
curd onto the racks and expel the whey, by using a 




CURD SCOOP. 




CURD SINK. 



40 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



curd sink. Nor is as much fat lost in the operation, 
for where the curd mats together in the vat before it 
can be gotten onto the racks, it is necessary to break 
it apart to let the whey out, and the necessary bruis- 
ing forces the fat out of it. 

Proper form of Curd Sink. The common form of 
curd sink, with an opening along the whole length of 
the bottom, is to be avoided. The sink should be a 
tin lined box with a channel bottom. There should 
be racks in it, and the channel under the racks will 
leave a place for hot water, to keep the curd warm. 
There should be a faucet at the lower end that can be 
opened to let the whey drain off, and then closed to 

keep the water under the curd. 
If the racks are not used, the 
curd will not drain sufficiently; 
and if there is an opening along 
the bottom, there will be a cur- 
rent of air started up around 
the curd which will be cooled. 
Of course this is just what we 
curd pail. must avoid, because the fer- 

mentation will be checked, if the curd cools down. 

How to fill the Curd Sink, When the curd sink is 
used, the whey should be drawn down in the vat till it 
just barely covers the curd; for while it is covered 
with whey, it will not mat. The curd sink is then 
run to the lower end of the vat, and the curd dipped 
over onto the racks in the curd-sink. All the whey 
runs through, and the curd is left dry to mat properly. 




CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 41 

If the curd is tainted, it can be more thoroughly- 
washed, as the curd is not matted together, and the 
water will wash all around the particles. As the curd 
is filled into the sink, this can be moved along, and 
the curd filled into it evenly. 

After the curd has been turned several times, the 
maker can begin piling it. He can pile it two, three, 
or five or six layers deep, but he should keep the 
pieces pretty well together, so that the curd will not 
spread too much at first. 

Keep the Curd Warm, The pieces that have been 
on the outside of the pile should be placed on the in- 
side, so that the temperature may be kept even. We 
must not forget the fact, that cheese-making is a pro- 
cess of fermentation, and that heat is a great factor 
in it. 

Piling Curds. Piling the curd has a tendency to 
make a fast-curing, soft or "weak-bodied ", cheese. 
If a fast-curing, soft cheese is desired, then the curd 
should be piled, but if a slow-curing, firm-bodied 
cheese is desired, we should pile the curd very little, 
or not at all. In many of the best Canadian factories, 
the curd is not piled at all, but is turned over and 
over. A curd, from over-ripe milk, should not be piled 
very much, as such a curd is likely to produce a 
"salvy " cheese. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MILLING THE CURD. 

When a Curd is Ready to Mill. In the course of 
an hour and a half from the time the curd has been 
dipped onto the racks, it will have matted down, and 
assumed a meaty texture. It will not tear out in 
chunks, but in strips, like the meat on a chicken's breast. 
There will also probably be half an inch or more, 
likely an inch, of fine strings, when tried on a hot iron. 
It is then ready to grind or mill, that is, it is put into 
a curd mill and cut into small pieces. The acid should 
be developing well at this stage of the process, but 
the amount of acid is not so important as that the curd 
shall be meaty in texture. 

Description of Curd Mills, The first curd mills 
were used in England. They consisted of a hopper, 
in the bottom of which was a roller with iron pegs in 
it. Sometimes there were two rollers. On the side 
of the hopper were iron pegs, and when the curd was 
thrown into it, the pegs in the roller would catch it, 
and carry it against the pegs, and tear and squeeze it 
to pieces. 

The old Roe mill is made on this principle. The 
old Elgin mill was also on the same plan, only there 
was less room for the curd to get between the pegs, 
and the curd was badly smashed and jammed. It 
helped to get rid of the fat, and such a mill ought 




PEG MILL. 




POHL MILL. 



44 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



never to have been used. The curd mills got a bad 
reputation from such members of the family as the 
Elgin mill, and even to-day, it is hard to restore the 
decent members of the family, to the confidence of all 
cheese makers. 

Pohl MilL The next form of peg mill, which I think 
is the best peg mill ever invented, is the Pohl mill, which 
has sharp teeth on two cylinders, revolving at different 
velocities, which pick the curd to pieces. The objec- 
tion to this mill is, that it does not leave the curd in 
the same sized pieces. Some of the pieces will be 
quite large, while others are small, and when salted, the 
salt will not be evenly distributed. There is a self- 
salting attachment to the mill, but it is useless, as a 
curd is never ready to salt when milled. 

Whitlow MilL A knife-mill does not jam the 
curd as much as a peg-mill does. It simply cuts it. 
One of the earliest forms of knife-mills was built 




COMMON KNIFE CURD MILL. 

after the form of peg-mills, as is seen in the Whit- 
low mill of Canada. There are a number of knives on 
a shaft which play between knives in the side of the 
hopper. When the curd is put into the hopper, it 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



45 



is caught between the knives and cut into small 
pieces. 

McPherson Mill. The McPherson mill, invented 
in Eastern Ontario, consists of a wheel with knives 
in it similar to the blade of a plane. A hopper feeds 




Mcpherson curd mill. 
the curd down against the wheel, and as it turns, 
slices of curd are shaved off. The wheel is apt to 
make the curd fly. 

The Harris Mill. The Harris mill has a net- 
work of knives at the bottom of a hopper. A plunger 
works by a lever into this hopper, and when a 
chunk of curd is dropped into this, the plunger forces 
it through the knives, leaving the curd in pieces one- 
half inch square, and as long as the piece of curd 
dropped into the hopper. 

Caswell Mill. The Caswell mill used in Canada, 
is really a Harris mill fitted up for power, but in- 
stead of cutting the curd into square pieces, they are 
diamond-shaped. In cither of these mills, the curd 
should be put into the hopper edgewise, so that the 
strips will be cut in the direction of the grain of the 



4 6 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



curd. If there are any holes in the curd, the pieces 
lying across each other will continue to flatten them. 
The pin holes must be flattened, for as long as they 
remain round, they will appear in the cheese. 




HARRIS CURD MILL. 



Advantages and Objections to Knife Mills. The 

other advantage of a knife-mill, besides saving the fat in 
the curd, is that the curd will not mat together on the 
racks, but can easily be torn to pieces by hand. An 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 47 

objection offered to such mills is, that the curd 
will not press together well. It may perhaps be diffi- 
cult at times, but I think the trouble in closing the 
cheese lies somewhere else. It must be remembered 
that knife-mills are used, hardly without exception, 
in factories where the best Canadian cheese is made, 
and this cheese is shipped to England, where the 
bandages are often stripped off from them, and they 
must necessarily be closed. 

If the trouble in closing the cheese be carefully in- 
vestigated, I think it will be found to be in the band- 
age used, or the temperature of the curd. Some 
makers let the curd mat together again, and grind a 
second or third time, but I do not like so much hack- 
ing of the curd. The curd should be piled up to flatten 
the pin holes, and then stirred every fifteen minutes 
to give it air. 

Stirring the Curd. A five tined fork, with the 
points turned into little loops to prevent catching into 
the cloth, or sticking into the sink, is a very handy tool 
with which to stir the curd. It does the work thor- 
oughly, and with much less labor than with the hands 
alone. 

Time to Mill. I like to have the grinding come about 
half way in time, from dipping the curd to salting it. 
It therefore should be an hour and a half from grind- 
ing to salting. During all this time the temperature 
should be kept up. (Why?) 

We want a curd to take all the acid it will before 
salting, which is indicated by strings about two inches 
long on the hot iron. 



48 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Effect of Dry Acid. If a fast curing cheese is 
wanted, there is all the greater reason for giving it all 
the acid it will take. 

If a cheese is salted before the lactic fermentation 
has proceeded far enough, Swiss holes will develop. 

Do not be afraid of getting a sour cheese by giving 
it all the dry acid it will take. If you have got all 
the whey out of the curd, there is no danger from too 
much acid. It is acid in the whey that makes a sour 
cheese. 

How to Expel Gas. If the pin-holes are not all 
flattened out by the time we are ready to salt the curd, 
it can be put into the hoops and pressed up for fifteen 
minutes. Then take it out and pull to pieces by hand 
or with the fork. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SALTING THE CURD. 

Condition of a Curd for Salting. When ready to 
salt, the curd, when rubbed on the hot iron, should 
not smell like burnt hair, but like toasted cheese. It 
should not feel harsh, but soft and silky, and when 
squeezed in the hand, a mixture of half fat and half 
whey should run between the fingers. 

If it is clear whey that runs out, the curd is not 
ready to salt. White whey should not run from a 
curd. It has not been fully freed from whey, and 
there is a heavy loss of fat. Of course, if the whey is 
in the curd, it should be gotten rid of, but it ought not 
to be there. When salted, a clear brine should run 
from the curd. 

Few cheese-makers realize how important a step 
in the process of cheese-making, the salting of the 
curd is, and they salt all their curds according to some 
fixed rule, learned from their predecessors, without 
knowing what the salt does. 

What Salt is. Salt is known to chemists by the 
name of sodium chloride. It is a chemical combina- 
tion of the metal sodium and chlorine gas, in the pro- 
portion by weight, of twenty-three parts sodium to 
thirty-five and a half parts chlorine. 

Where Salt comes from. It occurs in beds in the 
earth, and is either mined, or more commonly obtained 

4 — C. C. M. 



SO CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

from salt wells, in which the salt is dissolved by the 
water, pumped up to the surface, and evaporated, leav- 
ing the salt. But salt does not occur pure in these 
beds. 

Impurities in Salt. There are associated with it 
potassium chloride, calcium chloride, sulphates, mag- 
nesia, and lime. The presence of calcium chloride in 
the salt makes it lumpy and damp, for calcium chlo- 
ride has a great attraction for water, and will take it 
from the air. Calcium chloride and magnesium give 
the salt a bitter taste. 

These impurities however, as well as the water con- 
tained in salt, are a very low percentage of the whole, 
and when a salt dealer talks about his salt being so 
much stronger orpurer, than any other high grade salt, 
it is not so. Do not understand however, that com- 
mon barrel salt is just as good as the best salt for 
cheese making, for it is not. Common barrel salt con- 
tains a great deal of dirt, and salt may take up bad 
odors, which will be imparted to the cheese. 

Fine salt that has probably been ground, and the 
crystals broken, will dissolve faster than a coarser salt, 
in the natural crystalline form. 

Salts can easily be tested as to quality, by dissolving 
them in pure water, in a glass cylinder, and shaking 
up to dissolve. Use more salt than will dissolve. 
The best salt is that which leaves a clear brine with 
no scum of dirt on the top, nor dirt in the bottom of 
the solutions. 

What Salt does to Cheese. In the first place, salt 
gives taste to a cheese. A cheese without salt has an 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 5 I 

insipid fresh taste. Salt also takes out the moisture, 
so that fermentation is checked. A cheese without 
salt will cure very fast, in fact fermentation goes on so 
rapidly that gas holes are formed. 

The same thing is seen in brick and Swiss cheese, in 
which the fermentation starts in the unsalted state, 
but the salt, which is applied to the outsides, works its 
way into the cheese, before it gets bad. It should be 
noted, that such cheese has to be cured in a cellar, 
where there is a constant low temperature. They 
would otherwise spoil. 

Effect of too much Salt. If a cheese is salted too 
heavy, it becomes dry and mealy, and cures very 
slowly. The flavor is also injured. If we have bad 
milk, we should salt higher to improve the flavor, for 
up to a certain point, this is accomplished by heavier 
salting. I believe this to be due to the fact, that as 
the fermentation is checked by more salt, the gases 
formed have a chance to diffuse, and get out of the 
cheese without filling it with holes and the odor of the 
gases. 

We would, therefore, if we wanted to make a fine 
flavored cheese, salt it pretty heavy, say three pounds 
of salt per one hundred of curd. We must expect 
however, that such a curd will cure slowly. We can- 
not make the best kind of cheese in a da^, a week, 
nor a month. If one wants a fast curing cheese, he 
uses more rennet and less salt, but the product will 
not be as good a cheese. It will not be as close, nor 
as fine flavored, for the gases will not have had time to 
escape from the cheese. If one is making a fine, slow 



52 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

curing cheese, he need not expect to get as much 
cheese per hundred weight of milk, as if he were mak- 
ing fast curing cheese, for the salt expels the moist- 
ure and leaves less weight. 

In a case which we had in the Wisconsin dairy 
school, a curd was divided into three equal parts. The 
first lot received no salt; the second lot one and a half 
pounds of salt per cwt. ; and the third lot three 
pounds per cwt. The curds were then pressed separ- 
ately, and the green cheese weighed as follows: 

The cheese with no salt 10 lbs. 

The cheese with one and a half lbs. of salt 9. 75lbs. 
The cheese with three pounds of salt 9. 5olbs. 

As the cheese cured, they kept their relative weights. 
Other experiments have borne out this result. 

Curds not always Salted the same Amount. But 

curds should not always be salted at the same 
rate, from day to day. 

A moist curd needs more salt than a dry one, for 
two reasons: First, the excess of moisture must be ex- 
pelled by the addition of salt; and second, as the ex- 
pulsion of moisture takes salt with it in solution, 
enough must be applied, to leave the proper amount 
in the cheese. 

Salt slfould be Evenly Distributed. It is also es- 
sential, that the salt should be evenly distributed 
through the cheese. If there is too much salt in the 
curd that is put into the hoop last, it will crack the 
rind of the cheese. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 53 

Application of Salt. The curd should be spread 
out evenly in the curd sink, and a part of the salt scat- 
tered evenly over it. The curd should then be stirred 
thoroughly, and again spread out, and the remainder 
of the salt applied. It ought to be stirred every ten 
minutes, to keep the salt from settling to the bottom 
of the pile, in a brine. 

Temperature for Salting. Before salting, it should 
have been cooled to 90 F. , for if too warm, the fat 
may be expelled in large quantities with the brine. 
The curd should not be put to press, till the salt has 
been thoroughly dissolved and worked into it. 

Condition of Salted Curd for Pressing. It has a 

harsh feeling, due to the undissolved salt crystals, and 
the outside of the pieces of curd are hardened, so that 
they will not press together readily; but as the salt 
works into the curd, it regains its velvety feeling. 
When this condition has been reached, it is ready for 
the press. 



CHAPTER X. 

PRESSING THE CHEESE. 

Curd Must Not be too Warm. Before pressing, 
the curd should be cooled to eighty degrees. If put 
to press warmer, the fat runs, and large quantities of it 
are lost. It also runs between the pieces of curd, so that 
they will not close together, and under the bandage, 
preventing it from sticking. Poorly closed cheese 
has often been blamed to the curd mill, when the 
trouble really lay in the temperature at which it was 
put to press. 

Curd Must Not be too Cold. Of course, when 
the curd is much below 8o°, it will not close together, 
but there is a happy medium. This happy medium 
varies according to the temperature of the press 
room. If the room is cold, the curd will cool down. 
A cheese-maker must have some brains in his head, 
and use them, for he is more than a mere machine 
to be wound up and run down. A proper tempera- 
ture for the press room is about yo°. 

Common Packages of Cheese. There are three 
common packages, into which American cheese is 
pressed, namely, Young Americas, weighing nine 
or ten pounds, Flats and Cheddars, weighing respec- 
tively thirty and sixty pounds. 

The common diameter of flats or cheddar cheese 
is fourteen and a half inches, and a flat is half the 
height of a cheddar. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



55 



There are two kinds of presses used, the gang and 
the upright. The upright press has the screws in an 
upright position, and but one screw to a cheese. The 
gang press has one horizontal screw, which presses 
any where from one to twenty cheese. The hoops 




UPRIGHT PRESS. 

are made a little smaller at the bottom than the top, 
so that each hoop will fit over the next one in 
front of it. 

The Canadians use the upright presses more than 
we do in Wisconsin, thinking the pressure will be 



56 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



kept up better, as there is but one cheese under a 
screw, but they are hard to keep clean and take up 
a great deal of room. 




There are forms of gang presses, which keep up a 
continuous pressure by springs, or a system of levers, 
which are kept tight by weights. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 57 

In the gang hoop, the bandage is held by an iron 
band, which slips into the top of the hoop. This iron 
band is called the "bandager. " 

In pressing the cheese, the maker should aim to 
turn out a perfect cheese. He should be an artist, 
and produce an object of beauty. The ends should 
be square with its height, clean, and the bandage 
turned down evenly at the ends, and closed well on 
the sides. 

Kinds of Bandage Used. There are two kinds of 
bandages used, starched and seamless. The starched 
bandage is made up, from the starched cloth, by the 
factory man. The seamless bandage comes in the 
form of a long tube, from which the required length 
for the cheese is cut. But the starched bandage will 
not let the whey out properly, and consequently the 
cheese does not close on the sides. The cheese closes 
much better with the unstarched, seamless bandage. 

How the Bandage is Put Onto the Cheese. When 
the bandage is put into the hoop, the edge should be 
turned in evenly, for about an inch and a half on the 
bottom, and perhaps dampened to hold its place. 

Before putting the bandage in, the bottom cap cloth 
should be put in. It should be round, and as large as 
the bottom of the hoop (fourteen and a half inches), 
and should be soaked in hot water. Square cap cloths 
lap over onto the sides of the cheese, and make bad 
looking scars. 

Cheese Must be the Same Size. Care should be 
taken to put the same amount of curd into each hoop, 
so that the cheese will all be the same height. 



58 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

The hoops should not be filled so full, that the cheese 
comes above the junction between the bandage and 
the hoop, for in such cases, there will be a little ridge 
left at the junction, which will disfigure the cheese. 

When the curd has been filled into the hoop, the 
top cap cloth is put on, and the fibrous ring laid around 
the edge, to keep the curd from pushing out, and then 
the follower put in. Usually the fibrous ring is tacked 
onto the follower, and while it may fit well, it quite 
often happens that it does not; and the curd will 
push out at the places where the ring does not come 
tight against the hoop. There is another point in 
having the fibrous ring separate from the follower, 
which will be noticed when we come to it later on. 

Tighten the Press Slowly. After the hoops have 
been slipped into place, the screw should be tightened 
slowly, to let the whey out gradually. A small 
stream of brine should be kept flowing. If too great 
pressure is applied at first, the fat will be forced out. 
Curd closes together slowly, as will be seen by squeez- 
ing it in the hand. If it be squeezed suddenly, and 
then the pressure released, it will fall apart, but if 
pressed up slowly in the hand, it will stick together. 
We should not have reached the full pressure for about 
fifteen minutes. 

In about an hour, the curd will be pressed together, 
and then the bandage should be turned down around 
the top of the cheese. This operation is generally 
called "dressing" the cheese. 

Dressing the Cheese. Set the hoops in an upright 
position, and take out the followers, cap cloths, and 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 59 

bandagers. Pull the bandage gently, to be sure there 
are no wrinkles in it, and then trim off evenly all 
around, so that it will lap over onto the end of the 
cheese about an inch and a half. Soak it down into 
position with warm water, and put on the cap, after 
having wrung it out in warm water. Be sure there 
are no wrinkles in the cap, for they will leave bad 
looking marks on the rind of the cheese. 

Then put in the bandagers to keep the hoops straight 
in the press, and the fibrous ring and follower, and 
close up the press, putting on full pressure. Young 
Americas, however, will not stand as much pressure, 
for they do not have as much surface as larger cheese, 
to resist it. 

How to get Cheese Dry. The idea, that we make a 
cheese dry by pressing it, is an erroneous one. The 
whey has to be gotten out of the curd, while it is in the 
vat, and if is not gotten out there, no amount of 
squeezing in the press will expel it, and the cheese will 
get sour. 

If the press is not a continuous pressure one, as is 
likely the case, the maker should tighten the press 
the last thing at night, and the first thing in the morn- 
ing. 

In the morning, the cheese should be taken out of 
the hoops and examined, to see if they are perfect in 
shape, and all defects remedied. If the bandage does 
not stick, the cheese should be washed with warm 
water, and after being tightened in the press, hot 
water turned on to warm it up. If the edge of the 
upper end of the cheese is rough, it should be turned 



60 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

end for end in the hoop. In either case, the fibrous ring 
should be left out, so that the edge of the cheese will 
come out of the hoop square. Of course it must be 
watched, to see that the cheese does not push out be- 
yond the follower, and its last state be worse than the 
first; but if the pressure is carefully applied, a nice 
square edge can be put onto a cheese, in this way. 

Do not Pound the Hoops. The cheese should slip 
out of the hoop with very little pounding. Pounding 
loosens the rivets, and thereby gets the hoops into bad 
repair, as well as loosens the bandage on the cheese, 
and sometimes breaks the cheese. 

Where a knife is used to loosen the cheese, the 
bandage is also often loosened. If the cheese does 
not slip out easily, grease the hoops. The hoops 
should of course be kept clean, and if it is necessary 
to grease them, clean grease can be applied. 

Cheese should never be taken out on the floor, but 
on a press board. We must remember that cheese is 
an article of human food. Most people like to have 
clean food to eat, and we should aim to be just as clean 
in making the cheese, as though the consumers were 
watching all the time. 

Wipe the cheese off with a clean cloth, and then put 
them on the shelves, marking the date neatly. Cheese 
with great big marks scrawled ever them do not look 
attractive. 

Greasing the Cheese. As soon as the rind has 
dried off, it should be greased with regular cheese 
grease. The practice of skimming the whey, after it 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 6l 

has fermented, and got full of dirt, is nothing less than 
a dirty trick. Good wholesome grease, prepared for 
the purpose, can be bought of regular dealers in dairy 
supplies, and nothing else should be used. 

Cracks ill Cheese. If the cheese is left exposed to 
the air too long, before being greased, it will crack. 
Another cause of the rind cracking is too much acid 
in the whey. A high acid cheese will, as a rule, crack. 
A draft of air blowing over the cheese will also cause 
it to crack. This of course is caused by the air ab- 
sorbing moisture from the rind. I think, that while 
the question of moisture in the curing of American 
cheese has gone almost unconsidered, we must pay 
more attention to it in the future. 

Cheese in Cold Storage. Cheese held in cold stor- 
age are very likely to mould, which will work into the 
cracks, and for this reason buyers do not want 
cracked cheese. The rinds of high acid cheese, held 
in cold storage, will also begin to rot at the middle. 

Sometimes the maker leaves the caps, or press 
cloths as they are sometimes called, on, until a few 
days before shipping, and then pulls them off and 
greases the rinds. 

Sometimes salt sacks made out of heavy ducking 
are used for caps. This leaves a hard, but very rough 
rind, and if the cheese is held in cold storage, and 
mould grows on it, it is almost impossible to get the 
mould off, so that it looks well. 

Cleaning Mouldy Cheese. Cheese that gets mouldy 
in cold storage, is put into a sink of hot water to 



62 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

which a little ammonia has been added, and scrubbed 
with a brush. It is put on a shelf to drain and dry, 
and afterward boxed again. 

Cheese Cloth Circles. Sometimes a thin "cap" of 
cheese cloth, or a ''cheese cloth circle," is put onto the 
end of the cheese. 

Press Cloths. The first one is put on inside the 
"heavy cap" or "press cloth," before the curd is put 
into the hoop, and the other one is put in when the 
cheese is "dressed." The cheese cloth circle does 
not go on under the bandage, where it is turned down 
on the end, but over it. In using the circles, there is 
no need of cheese grease. 

The circle makes the cheese much cleaner, and buy- 
ers generally prefer them, and will pay more money 
for the cheese, usually an eighth of a cent a pound 
more. The cost is about one-sixteenth of a cent a 
pound on flats. 

They should be but twelve or thirteen inches in 
diameter, as they sometimes do not stick under the 
edge where they lap over the bandage. 

Keep a Daily Record. When the cheese is ready 
to ship, it quite often happens that a maker finds 

something peculiar 
about a cheese, which 
he wishes to avoid or 
reproduce in the future, 
but he does not remem- 
ber the circumstances 
connected with the 
making of that particular cheese. In the best Cana- 




CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 63 

dian factories, a daily record is kept, in a book for 
the purpose, of how the milk and curd acts. This 
gives them a history of each cheese, and by its aid, 
they have often been able to remedy defects, and re- 
produce the better points. 

Such a record is kept of all cheese made at the Wis- 
consin dairy school, only for greater convenience in 
the school the records are made by filling out printed 
blanks. 

The following is a copy of one of the blanks: — 

Date 189 

Vat used (Number of vat), 

Condition of milk, 

Per cent, of fat in milk, 

Pounds of milk in vat, 

Rennet test for ripeness, 

Temperature set, 

Time set, 

Amount of rennet used, 

Rate of rennet per 1,000 Bbs of milk, 

Time cut, 

Minutes in curdling, 

Time steam was turned on, 

Time required in raising to degrees, 

Hot iron test when dipped, 

Time dipped, 

Time from cutting to dipping, 

Per cent, of fat in whey, 

Time ground, 

Hot iron test when ground, 



64 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Time salted, 
Amount of salt on curd, 
Rate of salt per 1,000 Bbs of milk, 
Time put to press, 
Kind and number of cheese made, 
Time dressed, 
Time pressed, 
Weight of green cheese, 

Average weight of milk per pound of cheese, 
Highest and lowest temperature of curing room for 
last twenty-four hours. 

Remarks: — 



Under the head of remarks, any important thing 
not included under the other heads may be noted, 
such as a gassy curd, or washing out the bad flavor, or 
any way of treatment differing from the ordinary 
way. 



CHAPTER XL 

CURING OF THE CHEESE. 

Proper Temperature. The curing of cheese is a 
process of fermentation, whereby the insoluble curd is 
converted into soluble peptones. Cheese is cured 
best at a temperature of 6o°F. As has been stated 
before, at this temperature the gases have a chance to 
diffuse and pass from the cheese, without injuring its 
texture. 

The curing room must therefore be so constructed, 
that the temperature may be kept constant at 6o°. 
Cheese also needs plenty of fresh air, to make it cure 
properly and produce a good flavor. If a batch of 
cheese is divided into two lots, and one lot boxed up, 
while the other is placed on the shelves, it will* be 
found that the lot in the boxes will cure slower, and be 
inferior in flavor to the lot on the shelves. 

Oxygen Needed. Dr. Babcock in some work on the 
curing of cheese (published in First Annual Report of 
Cornell University Experiment Station), illustrated 
this still more fully, by curing cheese under bell-jars. 

One cheese was fed pure oxygen, while the other 
was fed carbon dioxide (carbonicacid gas). The one 
receiving oxygen cured very rapidly and was fine 
flavored, while the one receiving carbon dioxide did 
not cure; and we thus see that fresh air is essential for 
the proper curing. 

5— C. C. M. 



66 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Curing Shelves, how Made. The cheese should be 
cured on shelves made of good clear pine, an inch 
and a half thick by sixteen inches wide, supported 
every four feet. The point in having the lumber clear 
is that sap and pitch will be in the knots and color 
the rinds. The boards should be wider than the 
cheese, for if the cheese projects over the edge, a 
mark will be left on the face of the cheese. The 
board ought to be heavy, and the supports close to- 
gether, in order to prevent sagging, which might make 
the cheese, especially cheddars, crooked. The cheese 
should be turned every day, and the shelves wiped 
with a clean cloth. Pains should be taken not to soil 
the cheese nor break the corners in turning them. 

Arrangement of Cheese. The older cheese 
should be kept on the lower shelves, and the younger 
ones on the upper shelves, because of the difference 
in temperature between the upper and lower portions 
of the room. The upper shelves being warmer, the 
younger will cure faster, and the month's make of 
cheese will be evener than if this rule were not fol- 
lowed. 

Cheese ought to be kept till they are a month old 
before shipping. There is so much indigestible green 
cheese put on the market, that people get disgusted 
with it. If they could always get cheese such as they 
like, they would buy more, and if more cheese was 
bought, the price would be higher, and the farmer 
would receive a good rate of interest for waiting for 
his money. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SHIPPING THE CHEESE. 

Cheese, how Boxed. Young Americas are shipped 
four, cheddars one, and flats generally two, in a box. 

Where flats are shipped two in a box, they are 
placed one on top of the other, and are in that case 
termed "twins." When shipped one in a box, they 
are called " singles." 

Scale Boards. That the rinds of the cheese may be 
well protected, "scale boards," or very thin basswood 
or whitewood boards, are placed in the box. Two or 
three are placed on each end of the box, and two or 
three between twins. This number is more than is 
generally used, but cheese in this way keep better 
when placed in cold storage. If flats are put together 
without scale boards, and left for any great length of 
time, they will stick together so tight that they can 
with difficulty be pulled apart. The rinds sweat and 
are easily broken. They therefore need plenty of 
scale boards. The boxes should be trimmed to one- 
eighth of an inch less than the height of the cheese, so 
that this will hold its place and arrive in market in 
good condition. They should not be more than a 
quarter of an inch larger in diameter than the cheese; 
if there is too much room in the box, the cheese will 
be likely to roll around and break the box. On the 
other hand, the box should not be so tight, that the 
cheese will stick in it. 



68 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Boxes that are split or poorly nailed should be 
thrown aside, for they will be sure to arrive in the 
market in a dilapidated condition. Cheese makers 
do not realize, that boxes that may be in fair con- 
dition, may be entirely useless at the other end of the 
journey. 

Branding Cheese. Cheese made in several of our 
dairy States are required by law to be branded. Ac- 
cording to the laws of Wisconsin, "full cream" cheese 
are those made from milk, from which no cream has 
been taken. Anything else is considered skimmed. 

The dairy and food commissioner furnishes brands 
on application to him, and a file of the numbers of 
the brands issued is kept by him, in his office in the 
State Capitol at Madison. 

The following is the law relating to the branding of 
cheese in Wisconsin: — 

Dairy Laws of 1893. 

No. 189 A.] [Published April 26, 1893. 

CHAPTER 228. 
AN ACT to regulate the branding of cheese. 
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and as- 
sembly, do enact as follows: 

Section 1. No person shall offer for sale, sell, ship or consign cheese 
labeled with a false brand or label, as to the quality of the article. 

Section 2. The state dairy and food commissioner is hereby author- 
ized and directed to issue to the cheese manufactories of the state, 
upon proper application therefor and under such regulations as to the 
custody and use thereof as he may prescribe, a uniform stencil or 
brand, bearing a suitable device or motto and the words "Wisconsin 
Full Cream Cheese." 

Section 3. Every brand issued shall be used upon the side of the 
cheese on the bandage thereof, also upon the package containing the 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 69 

same, and shall bear a different number for each separate manufac- 
tory, and the commissioner shall keep a book in which shall be regis- 
tered the name, location and number of each manufactory using the 
said brand, and the name or names of the persons at each manufac- 
tory, authorized to use the same. 

Section 4. It shall be unlawful to use or permit such brand to be 
used upon any other than full cream cheese or package containing the 
same. 

Section 5. Every person who shall at any cheese factory in the state 
manufacture skimmed cheese, shall distinctly and durably stamp upon 
each and every such cheese, and upon the box, the words: "Wiscon- 
sin Skimmed Cheese." All cheese not manufactured as in sections 
1, 2, 3 and 4 of this act, shall be deemed to be skimmed cheese under 
the provisions of this act. The brand herein provided by this section 
of this act, for designating the grade and quality of cheese provided 
by this section, shall be such as to produce an impression not less than 
three inches in width and five inches in length, and shall be in full- 
faced capital letters of as large size as the space hereby provided for 
will permit, and the whole to be included within a plain heavy bor- 
der. Ordinary stamping ink, either red, green or violet in color, and 
of such composition as not to be easily removed or wholly obliterated 
by moisture, shall be used in stamping as provided for by this section. 

Section 6. Whoever violates the provisions of this act shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each and every package so 
falsely branded, or omitted to be branded as herein provided, shall be 
punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than fifty dol- 
lars, one half of which shall be paid to the person or persons furnish- 
ing the evidence upon which such conviction is made. 

Section 7. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions 
of this act, are hereby repealed. 

Section 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after 
its publication. 

Approved April 17, 1893. 

How Cheese are Weighed. In weighing cheese 
nothing but full pounds are counted. For instance, if 
the weight is 6o| pounds, it is counted but 60, or if 
the beam barely rises at 61 pounds, it is counted but 
60, for in course of transportation, it would likely lose 



JO CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

weight, and be cut down, when it is in the hands 
of the buyer. In the large warehouses, where hundreds 
of boxes arrive in a single day, they can not stop to 
weigh every box; but weigh a few boxes, and if they 
fall short, the whole lot is docked accordingly. Such 
weighings are referred to an official weighmaster. 

Marking of Weights. The weight should be sten- 
ciled, or plainly marked on the box (not the cover) 
next to the seam, where it can readily be found. A 
lead pencil hardly makes a sufficiently plain mark on 
a cheese box. The brand of the firm, to whom the 
cheese is shipped, should be stenciled on the side of the 
box. 

Buyer's Stencil. The buyer generally furnishes a 
stencil for this purpose. Each stencil, so issued to 
a shipper, has a distinguishing number on it, which is 
recorded in the buyer's office, and by referring to the 
number they can tell who shipped the cheese. This 
is especially necessary, where several factories make 
up a car load of cheese for a firm. 

If a cheese-maker has any cheese that is not first- 
class, he should put a distinguishing mark on such and 
notify the buyer to that effect, and the buyer will usu- 
ally deal fairly with him, for he understands that the 
maker is not trying to take advantage of him. 

How to Sell Cheese. Cheese is sold mostly on the 
dairy boards of trade. The buyer, after be bargains 
for the cheese, should be required to inspect the 
cheese at the factory and accept or reject it. He 
should then give a draft on a local bank for the amount. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 7 1 

The bank then draws on the firm for the amount, at 
the place of business of the firm, and the cheese belongs 
to the bank till the draft is honored. This is a strictly 
cash basis, and is fair to both parties. When the 
cheese is hauled to the depot, the boxes should be cov- 
ered with blankets, to protect it from the dust and the 
hot rays of the sun. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

JUDGING CHEESE. 

Ideal Cheese. One trouble that 
cheese makers meet with is, that 
:hey do not have the proper idea of 
a perfect cheese in their minds. 
This arises largely from the circum- 
stances under which they are placed. 
The cheese are shipped out of the 
factory as soon as the buyer will 
take them, the youngest being but 
a week or ten days old. The cheese 
may have defects, but the maker 
does not get a chance to see how it 
will turn out. 

Cheese exhibited at the Wiscon- 
sin Dairymen's Conventions is scored 
according to the following scale: 

Flavor 50 

Texture 3° 

Salt 10 

Color 10 



Total 100 

To try a cheese, a plug is pulled 
from it by means of a cheese trier. 
The trier should be thin, round, and 
a little tapering, so that it will pull a round smooth 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 73 

plug. A plug should always be taken from the top of 
a cheese. Never plug it through the bandage. 

Flavor. Flavor is the most important item in the 
quality of a cheese. No matter how good the other 
points may be, if the flavor is bad, the cheese will be 
condemned. It would be a difficult matter to describe 
accurately just what the flavor should be like, for 
there are different flavors in cheese, which may be 
equally good. This comes about from the different 
ferments in the cheese, which we cannot as yet entirely 
control. In another five years, bacteriological re- 
search will probably overcome this difficulty for us. 

The old saying, that "the proof of the pudding is in 
the eating of it," is true of cheese. If it tastes 
good and we want more of it, it is just the flavor w T e 
should have. It should not be sharp so that it will bite 
the tongue, but of a mild lasting taste. A great many 
cheese, in which the flavor cannot be termed bad, are 
still on the negative side; they do not have that fine last- 
ing aroma, although we can eat them quite agreeably, 
but do not feel that it is a matter of very great import- 
ance, whether we can have more of the same or not. 

Where experts are judging cheese, they seldom taste 
of any. They get the flavor simply by the smell, for 
if they tasted of every plug, they would soon be con- 
fused as to flavor. 

If a cheese is cold, it should first be warmed up in 
the fingers, before looking for the flavor. 

Texture. While flavor stands first in import- 
ance, the texture of a cheese comes next. The plug 



74 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

should be smooth, not fuzzy. If the cheese is not 
fully cured, the plug should bend a little before break- 
ing. When held between the eye and the light, it 
should be slightly translucent. If the light does not 
come through it, it is a sign that the texture has been 
injured in the manufacture, probably by too high acid. 
When a piece is broken from the plug, it should not 
crumble off, but should show a surface such as flint does 
when broken, and is therefore termed a "flinty break." 
When pressed between the fingers, it should not stick 
to them, but should mould like wax. Cheese that is 
tough, and will not come down readily between the 
fingers, is said to be "corky," and is probably due to 
over cooking, or insufficient quantity of rennet to 
cure it properly. Cheese should not be mealy, as is 
the case with high acid or too highly salted cheese. 

A cheese with good texture should not have any 
round, smooth, or ragged holes in it; but should be 
as solid as a board. 

Cheese with the round holes, or one that is soft and 
pasty, will go off flavor on further keeping. 

Salt. As was said under the subject of salting the 
curd, salt gives flavor to a cheese. In fact, the whole 
subject of flavor is affected by the salt. Cheese that 
are a little soft and a little inferior in flavor could have 
been entirely remedied, by using a little more salt. It 
has also been stated, that salt may injure both the text- 
ure and flavor by using too much. The influence of 
salt is, therefore, partly considered under texture and 
flavor. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 75 

Color. Like salt, the color of a cheese really is an- 
other way of judging its texture and flavor. A cheese 
without any coloring matter added to it, is improperly 
termed ' 'white." An uncolored cheese should never be 
white, but of an amber color. If it is a dead white, it 
is so because the acid has cut the color out of it. Of 
course in a colored cheese, these things would be 
more easily seen. 

The color should be even from one end of the plug 
to the other. A high acid cheese will give a distinct 
odor to the trier, the same as when acid attacks 
steel. 

Gross Appearance. A good judge can usually 
tell the quality of a cheese from the outside appear- 
ance. It should be square, and the rind without 
cracks, for cracks indicate high acid. When the fin- 
gers are run over the surface, it should be springy, 
that is, it should give readily under the pressure 
and regain its position. If the finger sinks into a 
place which does not spring back, it indicates a hole 
or soft place in the cheese. The rind should not have 
any white spots on it, as these indicate whey. Some- 
times the white spots will disappear in time, but it is 
a weak point in the quality of the cheese. When the 
plug has been replaced in the cheese, the place 
should be greased over, to keep the cheese from 
drying out, and skippers from getting into the same. 



PART II. 

Hints on the Construction and Operation 
of Cheese Factories. 



CHAPTER I. 

CONSTRUCTION OF FACTORIES. 

One Difficulty in Making Wood Cheese. A large 
part of the difficulty experienced in the making of 
good cheese, results from the condition of the factor- 
ies. In order that we may overcome these difficulties, 
let us look at the factories and see where they are 
wrong in their construction, and then we will be in a 
position to suggest a remedy. 

Too Many Small Factories. In the first place, 
there are too many small factories in which little milk 
is received, and in which too low a price for making 
is charged, and therefore the owners cannot afford to 
build properly equipped factories. In the older 
cheese manufacturing districts, the tendency has been 
to build a little shanty on every cross-road; people are 
beginning to see the folly of this, however, and I 
believe the tide is turning toward larger and better 
equipped factories. 

Poor Buildings. A great many of the buildings 
are little more than one thickness of boards. The 
vat room is small, and in hot weather, the temperature 



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CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 77 

of the curing room cannot be held down to the 
proper point, while in cold weather, both the vat and 
curing rooms get down nearly to the freezing point; 
in fact the cheese may freeze in the hoops. 

Poor Foundations. The floors are light and poorly 
supported. Whey is run onto the floor, and running 
through, forms a bad mud hole under the factory on 
account of imperfect drainage. 

"Whey Tank. The whey tank is set down in the 
ground where it cannot be cleaned out, and it is al- 
lowed to rot week after week, and contaminate the 
milk cans in which the whey is returned to the farms. 
It has even happened that horses have been scared, 
and ran away on account of the smell around a 
factory! 

No Hot Water. In many factories there is no 
steam, but the milk is worked up in self-heating vats, 
and there is never water hot enough to scald out 
utensils, or even melt the grease off from them. Nor 
is there a sink for washing tools, and clean wash rags 
and towels are often lacking. 

Any one who knows about our factories would, I 
think, say, that probably one half of them, would an- 
swer to this description. A great many persons do 
not like to admit that it is so, but we should never 
turn away from the truth, even if it does look dark, 
for unless we know the true condition, we cannot have 
a proper basis for improvement. 

It is for this purpose that we have drawn this pic- 
ture, that we may know how to remedy our mistakes. 



o 



o 

I 
m 
m 



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> 
o 




80 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

We will therefore consider how a factory may be pro- 
perly built and equipped. 

We will equip the factory for ten thousand 
pounds of milk per day, which I think is small 
enough. 

Ontario Cheese-factories. One secret of Western 
Ontario's success is in the fact that her factories are 
large, well built, and properly equipped. 

On pages 78 and 79 we give the plans for a factory. 

Good Foundations. In the first place, we should get 
good solid foundations, either of stone piers, or gas 
pipe, which allows the ground to heave and settle, with- 
out raising or lowering the building. The supports 
should be close enough together to hold the sills in 
place. 

Dimensions. Our plans call for a making room 
20 x 30 feet, with an office ten feet square taken out of 
one corner of it, and a boiler room 10 x 16 feet at- 
tached, and a curing house 20 x 40 feet, two stories 
high. 

Store Room. The upper story should never be 
used for curing cheese, but for storing cheese boxes 
and other supplies. 

Curing Room. Some Canadian factories have the 
curing house separate from the rest of the factory, but 
we can build them together and save the lumber for a 
second wall, which would be necessary if they were 
separated. 

Sills. We should have 8x12 inch sills around the 
outside of both parts of the building. There should 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 8 1 

be two 6x8 inch stringers, running across the make- 
room, and one of the same dimensions running through 
the middle of the long way of the curing-room. We 
can put ten foot joists between the sills and stringers. 
The dimensions of these joists should be 2 x 10 inches, 
and they can be placed eighteen inches apart. 

Curing-Room Floor. The joists under the cur- 
ing room should have rough boards nailed close to- 
gether on the under side, and a five inch layer of tan- 
bark put in between them. There will then be a five- 
inch space left above the tan-bark, over which a tight, 
heavy floor, is to be laid. This may be made, by first 
laying rough boards, and covering with paper, and 
then laying the regular flooring. The tan-bark, air 
space, and tight floor, are to protect from outside tem- 
perature. 

Vat-room Floor. The making room should have 
a heavy two-inch floor, preferably of maple. It must 
slope at a scale of one inch in five feet, toward a ditch 
at the lower end of the vats, or twenty feet from the 
front end of the room. 

Paper can be put on the studding under the siding, 
and the walls lathed and plastered. The studding is 
of 2x4, such as is generally used, and if tan-bark can 
be easily obtained, it can be filled in between the 
studding. Tan-bark is better than saw-dust for fill- 
ing in such places, as mice are not inclined to work 
in it as much. It is hardly necessary to say, that the 
top of the room should either be ceiled or plastered. 



82 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Curing-Room Walls. The curing room must 
practically be a large box, with walls so constructed, 
that the temperature inside will be affected as little 
as possible by the temperature outside; some means 
of introducing cool, fresh air, into the curing room, 
is highly desirable. 

The walls and ceilings will therefore have to be of 
several thicknesses, with air spaces between, like the 
floor which we have already described. 

Doors and Windows. We must not forget, after 
we have built such walls, to have the windows fit tight 
and have shutters on the outside. The doors must 
be heavy, with air spaces in them, and close tight with 
a lever latch like a refrigerator door. 

To construct our walls, we may put up our 2x4 
studding two feet apart, which is to be lathed and 
plastered inside. On the outside, rough boards and 
paper may be put, and then another row of studding, 
and paper nailed on with boards on the outside of these. 
In the spaces in the outer row of studding, tan bark 
may be filled in. 

Joists. The joists in the ceiling should be 2 x 6, 
ten feet long, eighteen inches apart, supported by 4 x 
6 running crosswise of the room. If the room is 
ceiled overhead, tan-bark three inches deep can be 
filled in between the joists, and then a layer of paper 
put down before the floor is laid. If the room is 
lathed and plastered, boards must be put in to hold 
the tan-bark. The second story, which is used only as 
a store room, need not have double walls. A tight 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 83 

fitting trap door should be made between the store 
room above and the curing room below, through which 
to get the cheese boxes down. 

Stone Cellar. A better wall for the curing room 
in first story may be made of stone, and built into the 
side of a hill, for still greater protection from outside 
temperatures, as is the case with cellars for curing 
of brick and Swiss cheese. The stone and earth help 
to keep down the temperature of the air in the room. 

Sub-Earth Ducts. But if a sub-earth duct be 
used, the first mentioned form of wall will be sufficient. 
A sub-earth duct is, as its name implies, an under- 
ground air duct. At about twelve feet below the sur- 
face, the ground maintains a constant temperature, of 
something like 50°F. , and if we have a duct long 
enough, the air drawn through it will be cooled to near 
the temperature of the ground. Now if we have such 
a duct, say twenty inches in diameter and six hundred 
feet long, we can ventilate the room with cool fresh 
air. Without this duct, we would have to ventilate 
the room by opening the windows in the cool part of 
the day, and keeping them tightly closed when the 
air outside was too warm. 

In order to start a current of air through an air duct, 
we must first build a fire in the chimney, and start a 
draft of warm air up the chimney. This will soon 
rarefy the air in the room, so that the air in the duct 
will start to fill up the space. 

Regulating the Air Supply. We can regulate the 
temperature by having a register over the duct, and ad- 
mit the air as fast as we want it. 



84 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Tube, how Built. The tube, of course, might fill up 
by the water in the ground running into it, if the 
ground at both ends was higher than the other part, 
or it might run into the factory if that end were lower, 
but we can obviate all this difficulty by making it slope 
the other way. 

Boiler room. The boiler room should have a ce- 
ment floor laid on the ground, and it should be lined 
with corrugated sheet iron, to insure against fire. 

Building should be Raised. The rest of the build- 
ing should be raised about a foot above the ground, so 
that air may circulate beneath and keep the sills from 
rotting. 

Water Supply. A good well is an absolute neces- 
sity for a cheese factory; water can be pumped into a 
galvanized iron cistern placed above the curing room. 
This cistern should be set in a drip pan, which will 
catch any leak or sweat from it, and carry it outside 
without leaking through into the curing room. 

Hot Water. From the cistern, water may be car- 
ried in pipes to the different parts of the building. 
The water pipss should be galvanized. There can be 
a steam pipe running into the water pipe by a T, and 
the flowing water can be heated by turning steam into 
it. 

Sewer. In connection with the factory, there should 
be what is forgotten in nearly every factory, namely, 
a proper sewerage system. There should be regular 
six-inch sewer pipe underground, leading to a stream 
or blind-well, to convey the slops from the building. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 85 

In locating a factory, farmers figure on the handiest 
place for them to haul their milk to, but usually do 
not at all consider the sewerage question. 

Blind-well. If there is no stream handy, the blind- 
well may have to be used. A blind-well, as one 
would surmise from the name, is a covered hole, into 
which the slops are run and absorbed by the ground. 
Care should be taken not to locate too near the. 
water well, as the slops will in such cases percolate 
through the soil to the water supply. The danger 
from this source is greater in cases of gravelly loose 
soils. There should be an opening to the surface of 
the ground, for gases will be generated and force their 
way back through the sewer pipe. 

Sewer Trap. At the mouth of the sewer there 
should be a sewer trap, which is simply an c/> shaped 
pipe, in which water constantly stands, and keeps gas 
from coming up from the sewer. 

Sewer in Clay Soils. In a clay soil, the slops will 
not be absorbed fast enough, and the sewer pipe will, 
in that case, have to divide into a number of forks to 
spread the material over the surface, or near the sur- 
face of the ground. The slops should, in that case, be 
carried six hundred feet away from the factory. 

Whey Tank, How Built. The whey tank should 
be lined with galvanized iron, and be placed high 
enough for a wagon to drive under, and draw off the 
whey by simply opening a valve. The ground ought 
to be paved in such a way, that the drip will run off 
into the sewer. 



86 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Elevating Whey. To get the whey from the vat 
into the whey tank, it can be drawn into a box or 
barrel, and from there forced by a steam jet into the 
whey tank. The whey should be scalded to keep it 
sweet, and after the patrons have gone every morn- 
ing, the tank should be scrubbed out, and steam 
turned into it to scald it out. There should be a 
platform around the tank, and steps leading up, so 
that a person can get into it easily. 

Bath-room. One thing that a factory should have, 
though generally unthought of, is a bath-room. This 
can be placed above the curing room. A room, five 
by eight feet, can have a floor covered with galvanized 
iron, to catch any drip or slop, and a bath-tub put in. 
Hot and coid water can be connected with it, and a 
most desirable thing supplied. 



CHAPTER II. 

EQUIPMENT. 

For a factory of the capacity we are building, we 
will need an eight horse power boiler. A horizontal 
brick arch boiler is preferable to a vertical one, as it 
will hold the heat better, and a person can more easily 
clean the flues. 

There should be a good steam-pump, and possibly 
an engine, though that is not absolutely necessary. 
For ten thousand pounds of milk, we will need two 
vats of a capacity of 5,200 pounds; these ought to be 
provided with whey gates for emptying them. 

Water Boxes of Yats should be Lined. It is 

quite essential also, to have the water boxes of the 
vats lined with galvanized iron, or they will leak, 
making a bad mess on the floor. 

Curd Sink. It will be remembered that we said 
in Part I, that a curd sink was a necessary piece of 
apparatus in getting the curd drained properly; 
we must therefore have a curd sink constructed in the 
way suggested. (See page 39.) 

For the curd from 10,000 pounds of milk, two gang 
presses, and either twenty cheddar or forty flat hoops 
will be required. We should not attempt, as is quite 
commonly done, to press two flats in a cheddar hoop 
by putting a divider between. We cannot make an 
artistic looking cheese in that way. 



88 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Pressing Flats. Flat hoops do not cost near as 
much as they did a few years ago, and the expense 
will be but slightly increased in providing the neces- 
sary number of hoops. 

Sink, How Made. Another necessary thing, which 
is seldom found in a factory, is a good sink. It should be 



WASH SINK. 

iron or galvanized iron lined, and plenty large enough 
— say three feet long, by twenty inches wide, by 
twelve inches deep, properly connected with the 
sewer. At the end of the sink, should be a wide 
shelf or table inclined toward the sink, so that drip- 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 89 

pings will run off into the sink. This shelf is used 
to drain tinware on, and a steam jet projecting 
through it, can be used to sterilize utensils. 

We need hot and cold water connections at the 
sink, and perhaps a hot water barrel beside it. This 
barrel may be made of galvanized iron, and should 
be used for a supply of clean, hot water, rather 
than a place to zvasli dirty tools. This latter opera- 
tion ought to be performed in the sink. 

Milk, how Lifted. If the roadway is not high enough 
to empty the milk directly into the weigh-can, a large 
wheel fixed tight on an axle is probably the best appli- 
ance for lifting the milk. An endless rope runs over 
the wheel, and by pulling this rope, the wheel turns 
and winds up another rope on the axle. This rope 
has tongs on it, which take hold of the milk can. 

The weigh-can is placed on an 800 lb. double beam 
scale, which stands in a receiving room or covered plat- 
form. This platform is built out on brackets in front 
of the factory. On one side of the room, is a shelf for 
the milk book, and another for the sample jars. The 
milk is run from the weigh-can to the vat, through an 
open tin conductor. 

Milk Testing, For testing the milk, we should 
have a thirty-bottle, steam turbine, Babcocktest, and a 
Quevenne lactometer. The Quevenne lactometer 
gives a direct reading of the specific gravity, and is 
used in connection with the Babcock fat test for detec- 
tion of watered milk. The Babcock test is now used in 
most factories; and probably in one half of the fac- 
tories, the milk is bought according to test. 



90 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



JL! 



9 

5^ 



That this is the only fair method of pay- 
ing for milk, will be seen, for both the 
quantity and quality of the cheese made 
from the milk depend on its fat content. 

Paying by Test. People often get con- 
fused about the justice of paying for 
milk, at cheese factories, according to the 
test. They think four per cent, milk ought 
to make a third more cheese, than three per 
cent. milk. They do not consider the ques- 
tion of quality. If their proposition were 
true, no cheese could be made from thin 
skim milk with no fat in it. The facts are, 
that about five pounds of cheese can be 
made from one hundred pounds of such skim 
milk, but the cheese can be sold with great 
difficulty, for one cent a pound, or five cents 
per hundred, after going to the trouble of 
making the cheese. The milk is worth 
more than that for feeding purposes, before 
touching it for cheese, to say nothing of the 
cost of making. Four per cent, milk will 
make ten pounds of cheese, that will sell for 
ten cents a pound, and one hundred pounds 
of four per cent, milk is worth one hundred 
cents. The skim milk made into cheese is 
worth five cents, or a difference of ninety- 
five cents for the fat. We have but five 
pounds more of cheese, but the difference in 
quality made by the fat is really the great 
difference. 

Composite Samples. The samples should 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



91 



be saved from each patron's milk every morning, by 
stirring up the milk in the weigh-can with a dipper. 
An ounce cup is then filled with the milk, and turned 
into the sample jar. 

Sample Jars should be Marked to prevent Mis- 
takes. Each jar has the number of the patron 
marked on it with asphalt paint, or in some other sub- 
stantial way. 




WEIGiH CAN. 

Milk Samples. How Preserved. A small quantity 
of potassium bichromate is put into the jar, before any 
milk is put into it, and this chemical will preserve the 
milk for a week or more. At the end of a week, the 
composite sample of each patron's milk is tested, and 
the reading of the Babcock test is the percentage of 
fat in the whole of the week's milk. 

• - 






92 



CHEDDAR CHEESE makinc. 



/ 



BabCOek Test. For any person who is not 

acquainted with the Babcock test, we will 
give .1 brief description of it. As full descrip- 
tions of the test, and its application, have been 

fully published in bulletins and reports of ex- 
periment stat ions, and as this book treats more 
of cheese making than milk testing, and have 

not the room to l paie, we will not go into de- 
tails about the test, but refer the reader to 
bulletin 36, and the Ninth annual report of the 
Wisconsin Agriculture Experiment Station, if 

he desires to know more about it. 

Appliances Needed. We will name over 
SOme of the minor articles needed in the fac- 
to!)', for some- of them arc usually found lac k- 

\ing, and sometimes there are not enough of 
tile articles. tO enable one- to work handily. 



/l£cx. 



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PIPETTE. 




17.S«C 



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UABC 



k Mil k I t '.I INu MACHINE. 



ACID MEASURE. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



93 



There ought to be two curd knives horizontal and 
perpendicular and they should be six or eight irt< hes 
wide, and twenty inches lone/. 

We Deed ;i rennet test , .md ttyO OT 

three reliable thermomet ers, for I h< 
are easily broken, and we must not 
run the risk of being without one 



..jo 

=-9 



—I 



J 

i-i 





'.onuuCTOR HEAD. 

Wc will also need a hair sieve, linen 

strainer cloth, w;ish-dish, two Curd 

pails, three or lour twelve-quart tin 

pails, ' . ' ral dippers, one of wliic 1) h.is 

a flat side, and a perforated I m bot - 
torn, for skimming specks off from the 

milk. 

Curing Shelves. The shelves in 

the curing room are supported by cross 

,atta< hed to wooden poi ts, I h< e 

4X 4's, rea< hing from floor to 

ceiling. Tin- cross pieces are 2X4's, 

set into the- 4x4, to keep them from 

tilting, and a bolt. put. through to 
'i'he- shelves an n foot 



I BOTTLE. 

hold them in place 

boards; sixteen inches wide-, and one and a half inches 

thick. They should he- the- clearest pine lumber ob- 
tainable. 



94 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

The shelving can run crosswise of the room, and if 
the boards are sixteen feet long, there will be a four 
foot passage on the side of the room next to the mak- 
ing room. At the further end of the room from the 
door to the making room, ten feet of space can be left 
for boxing cheese. 

Cost of Factory. The factory we have suggested 
will cost more than the ordinary run of factories, for 
it is much better. Nothing that will be a waste of 
money, has been suggested. Certain firms put up 
factories which are inferior to this, for which they get 
a third more money than this would cost. 

As the cost of material in different localities varies 
so much, we have not set a price on this factory, but 
the necessary facts are given, so that any one can fig- 
ure on the cost of the building for his own locality, 
and then reliable firms will furnish machinery at rea- 
sonable prices. 



CHAPTER III. 

OPERATING A FACTORY 

Now that we have our factory in proper trim for 
working, a few suggestions about the methods of operat- 
ing may not be out of place. We will not take up 
the process of making cheese, as this has been fully 
treated in Part I. 

Keep Clean. Cleanliness is the main factor under- 
lying the whole dairy business, and we must keep our 
factory clean. Almost every cheese-maker will keep 
the inside of the weigh-can and cheese vats clean, but 
the outside is often sorely neglected. Milk may be 
spilled on the floor, and not properly cleaned up. 
Water is slopped on the floor, and the maker wades 
through it without drying it up; when the whey is 

drawn from the vat, it often 
goes on the floor, and in order 
to keep his feet dry, he wears 
rubber boots. 

Rubber Boots. The rub- 
ber boots are an injury to 
his health and the slop un- 
Rubber Mop. necessary, to say nothing 

about the wear on the floor and its nasty appearance. 
We would think a woman who kept her kitchen floor 
in such condition, a very untidy housewife, and I see 
no reason why a factory floor should be slopped over 
any more than a kitchen floor. If any water accident- 
ally gets onto the floor, it should be mopped up at once. 





96 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

Scrubbing the Floor. At the close of the day's 
work, the floor can be scrubbed, first with lukewarm, 
and then with hot water, and then dried off with a 
rubber mop. Hot water will make the floor dry- 
quickly, but it should never be used first where milk 
has been spilled, or where milk or whey is on tinware, 
for heat will scald the milk on. 

Soaps. Powdered soap, such as "Gold Dust", is very 
effective in taking out dirt, but it is too expensive 

a form in which 
to use soap, as 
it d isso 1 ve s 
readily and runs 
away. Salsoda 
floor scrub. is much cheaper 

and just as effective for a great many things, such as 
cleaning the floor. Sapolio is a soap mixed with in- 
fusorial earth, which may be used for scouring tin- 
ware. 

Towels. Clean towels and clean cloths, for wiping 
utensils, are ornaments in a factory. Many a time 
has the writer been in a factory, and looked for a 
towel without finding even a dirty one. 

Several good scrubbing brushes are needed in a fac- 
tory, and one of them should be of rice root, for scrub- 
bing cheese hoops and greasy articles. 

In scrubbing the floor, the mop board should not be 
forgotten, nor the doors and other wood work. If the 
maker is careful in scrubbing the floor every day, a 
general scrubbing once a week will keep things look- 
ing bright. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 97 

Shelves for Trinkets. The windows should be kept 
as clean as those in a dwelling house, nor should tools 
and little trinkets be laid on the window-sills. There 
should be shelves for all such things. 

The curing room should likewise be kept in order. 
It should not be a dumping place for all sorts of ma- 
terial, which properly goes into the store room above. 

How to Kill Moulds. If at the beginning of the 
season, the walls are sprinkled with water, and the room 
closed tight while two or three pounds of sulphur is 
burned in it, moulds will be killed. 

Antiseptics. A still better way is to wash the 
walls with limewater. Limewater is a disinfectant, 
and should be used wherever it can be applied. Com- 
mercial sulphate of iron, or copperas or green vitriol, 
as it is commonly called, is also a disinfectant, and 
should be put into drains and places that are likely to 
smell bad. 

To Prevent Dust. The boiler room must not be 
neglected. If coal is used, coal dust can be prevented 
by sprinkling the coal with water. The floor should 
be kept cleanly swept, and should be mopped twice a 
week, or as often as needed. Tools should have their 
regular places and be kept there. 

The reader may think it a waste of space to talk 
about all these little matters, but experience has 
taught the writer that they are the foundation of the 
business of cheese making; and makers often fail, be- 
cause they do not recognize the fact. 

It is much easier to keep a clean factory than a 

7 — c. C. M. 



98 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

dirty one, for the old saying that "an ounce of pre- 
vention is worth a pound of cure" is true here, as well 
as in other cases. 

Factory Surroundings. Having got the inside of 
the factory clean, why not make the outside of it to 
match? Plant some trees, and in painting the factory, 
choose white or some light color, that will not absorb 
but reflect, the heat. A little extra effort may be put 
into graveling the roadways, to prevent them being 
cut up in wet weather. Level off the ground for a 
little space, seed it down, and cut the grass with a 
lawn-mower. If a dry spell comes, we have plenty of 
water in our well, and can sprinkle the lawn with our 
steam pump. These things would take but little ex- 
tra effort, and I think all will agree, that the result 
would fully repay the effort. 

Why should it not be the rule that a cheese factory 
is to be kept not only clean, but attractive as well? 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE MILK PRODUCER'S RESPONSIBILITY. 

Aeration of Milk. During the last five years, the 
subject of aeration of milk has received a good deal of 
attention. 

According to the 
old system of caring 
for milk, the patrons 
of a cheese factory 
were instructed to 
cool the milk as 
quickly as possible. 
Very often the milk 
was not properly 
cooled, and the milk 
would arrive at the 
factory sour. 

We now hear 
cheese makers in- 
structing their pat- 
rons to aerate their 
milk and not cool it, 
and many devices 
have been invented 
for this purpose. 

Different Styles 
of Aerators. By 
Howards aerator. aeration is meant, 

that the milk is thoroughly exposed to the air. This 




IOO 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



may be done by pouring the milk with a large dipper, 
or allowing it to slowly trickle through small holes in a 
vessel, the fine streams of milk falling through the air 
into the milk can, or it may flow in a thin film over 
the surface of the apparatus, or air may be blown 
through the milk by means of an air pump. 

What Aeration Does. By aerating the milk, ani- 
mal odors and bad flavors escape. Of course the oper- 
ation must be done in a sweet, clean atmosphere, or 
the milk will be inoculated with foul germs. 

As a rule, milk that has 
been aired will keep sweet 
longer than milk that has not 
been aired, the conditions of 
temperature being the same, 
but the main advantage claimed 
for aeration is that the gases 
and bad odors escape, and the 
milk is better flavored. 

In those factories where the 
patrons have practiced this, it 
has not been necessary to cool 
the milk, excepting for a few 
nights in the hottest weather. 
milk aerator. it is a safe rule, however, to 

have the milk a little too sweet than a little too sour, 
but in the fall, when the nights are cool, patrons are 
inclined to continue cooling the milk, the same as in 
hot weather, and the cheese-maker is obliged to wait 
till afternoon for his milk to ripen, or he will have 
1 'sweet-cheese." 




CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. IOI 

Keep Barn Clean. The great cause of bad milk is 
dirt. The barn should be kept scrupulously clean, 
and lime water, and other antiseptics, freely used. 
The cows catch a multitude of germs in their hair 
while moving around in the grass, especially in 
swampy ground, and the germs fall into the milk at 
milking time. 

Their bellies and udders should be washed, as well 
as the hands of the milkers, and if the milk vessels 
have been washed clean and scalded, there will be 
little danger of foul milk. 

Old Milk Cans to be Discarded. Milk cans which 
have passed their days of usefulness, and become rusty 
and cracked, should be discarded, for they often spoil 
more milk than ten new cans would cost. Such old 
cans will be tinkered up by putting a double bottom 
on, or a patch over a hole, under which patch or bot- 
tom the milk will soon find its way and cause trouble. 

Wooden Milking Pails Should Not be Used, It 

sometimes happens that wooden pails are used for 
milking in. The milk gets into the cells of the wood, 
and into the joints, and ferments, and no matter what 
precautions are taken, such pails cannot be kept clean. 

Patrons Should be Educated. The patron has his 
share in the work of producing good cheese, by prop- 
erly caring for the milk till it arrives at the factory, 
and while his intentions may be good, he is often un- 
conscious of his errors, and the cheese-maker should 
endeavor to instruct him in the proper caring for milk. 



PART III. 



Questions for Aiding in a More Thorough 

Study of the Subjects Treated in 

Parts I and II. 



The answers to these questions will be found on the 
pages indicated at the end of the questions. 

MILK. 

1. What is milk? p. I. 

2. What substances are found in milk? p. I. 

3. How much water is there in cow's milk? p. 1. 

4. How much ash is there in cow's milk? p. 1. 

5. What is the ash of milk? p. 2. 

6. How much albuminous substance is there in 

milk? p. 2. 

7. What is the difference between albumen and cas- 

ein? p. 4. 

8. How much sugar is there in milk? p. 1. 

9. How does milk sugar compare with cane sugar? 

p. 1. 

10. How much fat is there in cow's milk? p. 1. 

11. What proportion of the milk is solids? p. 1. 

12. What substances are in solution? p. 4. 

13. What is an emulsion? p. 2. 

14. What substance is in emulsion? p. 2. 

15. What is the size of fat globules in cow's milk? 

p. 2. 

16. What is colostrum milk? p. 3. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. IO3 

17. How does colostrum differ from normal milk? 

P- 3- 

18. Why should colostrum milk not be used for mak- 

ing cheese? p. 3. 

19. How long after calving before cow's milk can be 

used for cheese? p. 3. 

20. What is whey? p. 4. 

21. What is curd? p. 4. 

22. What does the fat of milk do in a cheese? p. 4. 

23. What determines the value of milk for cheese? 

p. 4.. 

FERMENTATIONS OF MILK. 

24. What change does casein undergo in the manu- 

facture of cheese? p. 6. 

25. What are the two general classes of ferments? 

p. 6. 

26. What are organized ferments? p. 6. 

2J. Describe the structure of a bacterium, p. 8. 

28. What is the difference between bacilli, cocci and 

yeasts? p. 8. 

29. What is the cause of nearly all the trouble we 

have in making cheese? p. 6. 

30. Could we make good cheese without bacteria? 

p. 6. 

31. What are the desirable flavors in cheese? p. 6. 

32. What is the lactic ferment and what substance 

in the milk does it attack? p. 6. 

33. What is the most important point in cheese 

making? p. 7. 

34. What is the cause of pinholes in cheese? p. 7. 



104 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

35. What is the difference between * 'pinholes" and 

1 'Swiss holes?" p. 7. 

36. What is the butyric fermentation? p. 7. 

37. What is the alkaline curdling of milk? p. 7. 

38. What are "ropy" and * 'slimy" milks, and how are 

they caused? p. 8. 
39 What is the cause of bitter milk? p. 7. 

40. What are unorganized ferments? p. 9. 

41. What is the test for distinguishing between or- 

ganized and unorganized ferments? p. 9. 

42. What is an enzyme? p. 9. 

43. What kind of ferments are rennet and pepsin? 

P. 9- 

44. Are enzymes ever produced by organized fer- 

ments? p. 9. 

45. Where is rennet found? p. 10. 

46. How does rennet curdle milk? p. 10. 

47. What salts will curdle milk? p. 10. 

48. What is the effect of heat on the action of ren- 

net? p. 10. 

49. At what temperature is rennet destroyed? p. 11. 

50. What is the effect of the acidity of milk on the 

action of rennet? p. II. 

51. How does acid or alkali artificially added to the 

milk operate on the action of the rennet? p. 1 1 . 

52. Does rennet exhaust itself in its action? p. 11. 

53. What is rennet extract? p. 12. 

54. Are different lots of rennet extract alike? p. II. 

55. What is the cause of varying strength of rennet 

extract? p. II. 

56. How is rennet extract made? p. 12. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 105 

57. Why should whey not be used to soak rennets 

in? p. 13. 

58. Why is it better to buy reliable rennet extract 

rather than make it ourselves? p. 13. 

THE RENNET TEST. 

59. What is the cause of ' 'Swiss holes?" p. 14. 

60. On what three factors is rennet action depen- 

dent? p. 14. 

61. If we use the same rennet, at the same temper- 

ature of the milk each time, what is variation 
with which it coagulates the milk due to? 
p. 15. 

62. Who was the discoverer of the rennet test, and 

what did he first use for measuring the rennet 
and milk? p. 15. 

63. What proportion of rennet to milk do we use in 

making cheese? p. 15. 

64. What is the objection to using glass graduates 

for measuring rennet and milk? p. 15. 

65. What is the Monrad rennet test? p. 16. 

66. How is the rennet and milk measured in the 

Monrad test, and what is the object in dilut- 
ing the rennet? p. 17. 
6y. Why should the milk be stirred with a thermom- 
eter, when making the rennet test? p. 17. 

68. At what temperature should a rennet test be 

made? p. 18. 

69. What precautions should be taken in making a 

rennet test? p. 17. 



106 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

70. What does the rennet test tell us, and to what 

point should the milk be ripened each day? 
p. 18. 

7 1 . Starting with the season's work, how does a maker 

find to what number of seconds he must ripen 
his milk? p. 19. 

72. What is a starter and why do we use one? p. 19. 

73. How is a starter prepared? p. 23. 

74. Why should we not save a starter from the vat? 

P. 23. 

75. Why should we not use whey for a starter? p. 23. 

76. How do we compare rennet extracts? p. 19. 
yy. What two conditions must always be alike, and 

what is the third factor we seek, when com- 
paring rennet extracts? p. 19. 

78. Suppose we have two kinds of rennet extract, A 

and B, offered to us, the priceof A being$i. 50 
per gallon, and B $1.25. On making com- 
parative tests we find A coagulates the milk 
in thirty seconds, and B in fifty seconds. 
Which is the cheaper extract? p. 19. 

79. C sells an extract for $1.35 per gallon and D 

sells one for $1.45. C's extract coagulates 
the milk in seventy seconds, while D's extract 
takes sixty seconds. What will C's extract be 
worth when compared with the price of D's 
extract, and what will D's extract be worth 
when compared with C's? p. 19. 

80. (a) With the rennet test, E extract coagulates 

the milk in 80 seconds, and F extract coagu- 
lates it in 100 seconds. With E extract three 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 107 

ounces will coagulate 1000 lbs of milk in 
twenty minutes. How long will it take four 
ounces of F extract to coagulate 1000 lbs. of 
milk? (b) How much F extract must we use 
to coagulate 1000 lbs. of milk in twenty min- 
utes? p. 19. 

81. In what terms should the action of rennet be ex- 

pressed? p. 21. 

FIRST STEPS IN CHEESE MAKING. 

82. If a maker is suspicious that his milk is over 

ripe, what is the first thing he should do? 
p. 22. 

83. What is the effect of over ripe milk on the 

yield of cheese? p. 23. 

84. What is the usual loss of fat in the whey of nor- 

mal working milk? 

85. At what temperature should the milk be set? 

P. 23. 

86. What would be the effect of setting milk at 98°F.? 

p. 24. 

87. How much rennet should be used for a fast cur- 

ing cheese? p. 24. 

88. How much rennet should be used for a slow cur- 

ing cheese? p. 24. 

89. How should rennet be diluted before adding to 

the milk? p. 24. 

90. How long should the milk be stirred after adding 

the rennet? p. 24. 

91. Why do we stir the milk after adding the ren- 

net? p. 24. 



io8 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 



CUTTING THE CURD. 

92. When is the curd ready to cut? p. 24. 

93. In cutting the curd, which knife is used first? 

p. 26. 

94. How is the knife inserted and withdrawn from 

the curd? p. 27. 

95. What is the effect of jamming the curd? p. 28. 

96. How many times should a curd be cut? p. 28. 

97. How should a fast-working curd be cut? p. 28. 



HEATING THE CURD. 

98. Why do we heat a curd? p. 29. 

99. How fast should a curd be heated? p. 29. 

100. What would be the effect of heating a curd too 

fast? p. 31. 

101. When should we begin heating the curd? p. 29. 

102. How should we heat an over-ripe curd? p. 29. 

103. What would be the effect of heating a normal- 

working curd up to 108 F. ? p. 31. 

104. What is a "corky" cheese? p. 31. 

105. How high should a normal-working curd be 

heated? p. 30. 

106. Why is a correct thermometer a necessity? 

P. 31. 

107. What would be the effect, if a curd were not 

stirred after cutting? p. 32. 

108. How is the curd stirred? p. 32. 

109. Describe a McPherson curd-rake. p. 32. 

1 10. How can we tell when a curd is properly cooked? 

P. 32. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 109 

DRAWING THE WHEY. 

in. When should the whey be drawn from the curd? 

P. 33. 

112. What is meant by "an eighth of an inch " of 

acid? p. 34. 

113. Can a curd that will string, be made from milk 

fresh from the cow? p. 34. 

114. What is the effect of too much acid on a curd 

and in the cheese? p. 35. 

115. If we find we have an over-ripe curd how should 

it be treated? p. 35. 

116. How much acid may be run in the whey with- 

out injury to the curd? p. 35. 

117. Why do we use curd racks? p. 35. 

118. Describe a curd-rack. p. 35. 

119. What kind of cloth is used on the curd-racks? 

p. 36. 

120. How are the racks put into the vat? p. 36. 

121. Why do we cut the curd on the racks into blocks? 

P- 37. 

122. How should the curd on the racks be turned? 

P. 37- 

123. How often should a curd on the racks be turned? 

P . 38. 

124. How should a curd with pin-holes in it be han- 

dled? p. 38. 

125. If a curd is tainted, how should it be treated? 

p. 38. 

126. When is the best time to wash a tainted curd? 

P- 39- 

127. What are the causes of tainted curds? p. 39. 



IIO CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

128. When should cabbages, turnips, and such foods, 

if fed at all, be given to the cows? p. 39. 

129. What is a curd sink? p. 39. 

130. What are the common defects of curd sinks? 

P. 39. 

131. How should a curd sink be built? p. 40. 

132. In what ways is a curd sink an advantage over 

racks in the vat? p. 40. 

133. How should the curd be dipped into the curd 

sink? p. 40. 

134. Why should the curd be kept warm? p. 41. 

135. How high should a curd be piled? p. 41. 

136. Should an over-ripe curd be piled? p. 41. 

MILLING THE CURD. 

137. When is a curd ready to mill? p. 43. 

138. How much acid should a curd have when ready 

to mill? p. 42. 

139. Describe the common peg mill. p. 42. 

140. Describe the Pohl mill. p. 44. 

141. Describe the McPherson mill. p. 45. 

142. Describe the Harris mill. p. 46. 

143. Describe the common knife mill. p. 44. 

144. What are the objections to peg mills? p. 42. 

145. What are the objections to knife mills? p. 46. 

146. What are the advantages of knife mills? p. 46. 

147. Why do we stir the curd after milling? p. 47. 

148. What is a convenient tool for stirring the curd? 

P. 47. 

149. If a curd is very gassy, how can the gas be gotten 

rid of? p. 47. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. Ill 

150. What is the effect of dry acid on a cheese, and 

how much acid should a curd have when put 
to press? p. 47. 

151. Is there any danger of getting too much "dry 

acid" in a curd? p. 47. 

SALTING THE CURD. 

152. What are the four tests to determine when a 

curd is ready to salt? p. 49. 

153. What is common salt? p. 49. 

154. Where is salt found? p. 49. 

155. What are the impurities in salt? p. 50. 

156. What is the effect of calcium chloride in salt? 

p. 50. 

157. What is the effect of salt on the curd? p. 51. 

158. What is the effect of too much salt in cheese? 

p. Si. 

159. How does salt affect the yield of cheese? p. 51. 

160. How much salt should be used for a fast curing 

cheese? p. 51. 

161. How much salt should be used for a slow curing 

cheese? p. 51. 

162. Should a moist curd be salted the same as a nor- 

mal curd? Why? p. 52. 

163. How should salt be applied to a curd? p. 52. 

164. What should be the temperature of the curd 

when salted? p. 53. 

165. What should be the condition of a salted curd, 

when ready for the press? p. 53. 



112 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

PRESSING THE CHEESE. 

166. At what temperature should a curd be put to 

press? p. 54. 

167. If a curd is too warm when put to press, what is 

the effect? p. 54. 

168. If a curd is too cold, what difficulty is met in 

pressing? p. 54. 

169. What are the common packages for American 

cheese? p. 54. 

170. What are the two kinds of presses used? p. 55. 

171. What is the objection to a gang press? p. 56. 

172. What two kinds of cheese bandage are used? 

P. 57- 

173. What is the objection to starched bandage? p. 57. 

174. How may a cheese that fails to close in the hoop 

be closed? p. 59. 

175. How far should the bandage lap over onto the 

ends of the cheese? p. 57. 

176. What are cheese cloth circles? p. 62. 

177. Should a circle lap over or under the bandage? 

p. 62. 

178. How large should a circle be? p. 62. 

179. Why should square press cloths not be used? 

P- 57- 

180. How full should a cheese hoop be filled? p. 57. 

181. How fast should the press be tightened? p. 58. 

182. How should a cheese be "dressed?" p. 58. 

183. Why should the bandagers be put into the hoops, 

after dressing the cheese? p. 59. 

184. Why do we press a cheese? p. 59. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 113 

185. Why should two flats not be pressed in a Ched- 

dar hoop? p. 87. 

186. If cheese stick to the hoops, how should the 

hoops be treated? p. 60. 

187. What is the effect of pounding the hoops, to get 

the cheese out? p. 60. 

188. What is the objection to using a knife to get the 

cheese out? p. 60. 

189. How often should the hoops be washed? p. 60. 

190. When and why do we grease the rinds of a 

cheese? p. 60. 

191. What makes cheese crack? p. 61. 

192. What is the objection to a cracked cheese? p. 61. 

193. What is the effect of high acid in cheese placed 

in cold storage? p. 61. 

194. How can mouldy cheese be cleaned? p. 61. 

195. How can mould, to a large extent, be prevented 

from forming on cheese? p. 61. 

196. Why should a daily record of the making be 

kept? p. 62. 

CURING OF THE CHEESE. 

197. What is the proper temperature for a curing 

room? p. 65. 

198. Why is fresh air needed in curing cheese? p. 65. 

199. Why should the younger cheese be placed on 

the upper shelves? p. 66. 

200. How old should a cheese be, before shipping? 

p. 66. 

201. Why is a ripe cheese easier digested than a green 

one? p. 66. 

8 — C. C. M. 



114 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

SHIPPING THE CHEESE. 

202. How are cheese boxed for shipping? p. 6j. 

203. What are scale boards? p. 67. 

204. How many scale boards should be used on the 

ends and between the cheese? p. 67. 

205. Why are scale boards used? p. 67. 

206. How and why should boxes be trimmed? p. 67. 

207. Why should a poor box not be used? p. 68. 

208. How are cheese made in Wisconsin required by 

law to be branded? p. 68. 

209. Who furnishes the brands to Wisconsin factories? 

p. 69. 

210. What is the penalty in Wisconsin for improperly 

branding cheese? p. 68. 

211. How are cheese weighed? p. 69. 

212. How and where should the weights of cheese be 

marked on the boxes? p. 70. 

213. How are cheese sold? p. 73. 

JUDGING CHEESE. 

214. What are the points in scoring cheese? p. 72. ' 

215. What importance is attached to the flavor of a 

cheese? p. 73. 

216. What is considered a good flavor? p. 73. 

217. Can the flavor of a cold cheese be readily de- 

tected? p. 73. 

218. How is a plug pulled from a cheese? p. 72. 

219. Of how much importance is the texture of a 

cheese? p. 73. 

220. What are the qualities of a good texture? p. 74. 

221. Of what importance is salt in the scoring of a 

cheese and how is it determined? p. 74. 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. I I 5 

222. Of what importance is the color of a cheese? 

P- 75- 

223. What should be the color of a cheese to which no 

color has been artificially added? p. 75. 

224. How can we tell the quality of a cheese from its 

outside appearance? p. 75. 

225. If a cheese is mottled on the rind, what does it 

indicate? p. 75. 

226. Where should a cheese be plugged? p. 73. 



PART II. 

THE CONSTRUCTION OF FACTORIES. 

227. How, in their construction, are cheese factories 

usually wrong? p. 76. 

228. What is usually the trouble with the curing 

room? p. 76. 

229. What is usually wrong about the whey tank? 

P. 77- 

230. What is the first thing necessary in building a 

factory? p. 80. 

231. How should the walls of a factory be built? p. 80. 

232. How should the ceiling and floor of the curing 

room be constructed? p. 81. 

233. How should fresh air be supplied to a curing 

room? p. 83. 

234. What is a sub-earth duct? p. 83. 

235. How should the doors of the curing room be 

constructed? p. 83. 



Il6 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

236. Of what kind of material should the curing 

shelves be made, and what should be their di- 
mensions? p. 93. 

237. What kind of a floor should there be in the mak- 

ing room? p. 87. 

238. How should the water tanks to the vatsbemade?^ 

p. 87. 

EQUIPMENT. 

239. Why is a whey-gate necessary on a cheese vat ? 

P . 8 7 . 

240. How should the wash sink be constructed? p. 88. 

241. What kind of a gang-press should we have? 

p. 56. 

242. How should the boiler room be lined? p. 84. 

243. How should the sewer be constructed? p. 84. 

244. What is a blind well? p. 85. 

245. How should a blind well be ventilated? p. 85. 

246. How should the whey tank be constructed? p. 85. 

247. How often should the whey tank be cleaned 

out? p. 86. 

248. How should the floors be kept clean? p. 96. 

249. What is a sewer trap? p. 85. 

250. How can the whey be elevated to the whey tank? 

p. 86. 

251. Why should steam be used in a factory? p. 77. 

252. How can the milk be lifted to the weigh can? 

p. 89. 

253. Is it doing justice to pay for milk according to 

its fat content? p. 90. 

254. How much cheese can be made from 100 lbs. of 



CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 117 

separator skim milk, in which there is no fat 
left? p. 90. 

255. How much money will such skim milk cheese be 

worth? p. 90. 

256. Would it not pay better to feed such milk to hogs? 

p. 90. 

257. How much cheese will 100 lbs. of 4 percent, fat 

milk make? p. 90. 

258. How much money will well made cheese from 4 

per cent, fat milk bring? p. 90. 

259. According to the answers to questions 253 to 

257, what is the most valuable part of the 
milk for cheese? p. 90. 

260. How should samples of milk be taken and pre- 

served, for a composite test to be made once a 
week? p. 91. 

261. How should the sample jars be marked? p. 91. 

262. What small utensils are important in a factory? 

p. 91. 

263. What is the need of rubber boots in a cheese 

factory? p. 95. 

264. Where should small trinkets in a factory be 

placed? p. 97. 

265. What chemicals are good antiseptics, and how 

should they be used? p. 97. 

266. How may coal dust be prevented? p. 97. 

267. How should the outside of the factory be kept? 

p. 98. 

268. What color should a factory be painted, and 

why? p. 98. 



Il8 CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING. 

CARE OF MILK. 

269. What was the old method of caring for milk, at 

the farm, before delivery to the factory? p. 99. 

270. What objections are there for closing the milk 

up tight, and putting cold water around the 
milk can? p. 99. 

271. What is meant by aerating milk? p. 99. 

272. How is milk aerated? p. 99. 

273. Why is milk aerated? p. 100. 

274. Should the morning's milk be aerated? p. 100. 

275. Where should milk be aerated? p. 100. 

276. What would be the effect of airing milk in afoul 

smelling place? p. 100. 

277. What advantage is claimed for aerated milk? 

p. 100. 

278. Why should milk not be cooled in cold fall 

weather? p. 100. 

279. What is the great cause of bad milk? p. 101. 

280. Why should the cow's udder and belly, and the 

milker's hands be washed? p. 101. 

281. Where do the cows get the bad bacteria? 

p. IOI. 

282. How should the barn be kept to secure good 

milk? p. 101. 

283. How should the milk cans and milk pails be 

cleaned? p. 101. 

284. What is the difficulty with old, patched up milk 

cans? p. 101. 

285. Why should wooden pails not be used for milk- 

ing in? p. 101. 



A. J. DECKER & CO. 

No. 4 THIRD ST., 

FOND DU LAC, WIS. 

MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS IN 

CHEESE FACTORY AND CREAMERY 

Outfits ayd Supplies 



BABCOCK MILK TESTS 

Both Hand Power and Steam Motor, 
. AND . . 

DECKER'S FLY PROOF CHEESE GREASE 

ARE AMONG OUR SPECIALTIES. 
-===51 WE MAKE F~=- 

BOILERS AND ENGINES 

AND ARE STATE AGENTS FOR U. S. 

CREKM • SEPHRHTORS 

IN WISCONSIN. 

WRITE FOR PRICES. 



THE BEST. 

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Curtis Babcock Milk Test. 

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National Butter Worker. 

Curtis Channel Bottom Weigh Cans. 

Curtis Diamond Rennet Extract. 
Thatcher's Orange Butter and 

Cheese Color. 
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CHTHLOGUE FRGG 



CORNISH, CURTIS & 6REENE MANUF'G CO., 

Manufacturers of HIGH GRADE DAIRY APPLIANCES, 
FT. ATKINSON, WIS. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



